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Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball madness on display at New Bremen Sectional October 20, 2008 By Jim Jicha It’s been a wild ride in the Midwest Athletic Conference this season. The MAC has distinction over the years of producing more state champions, runners-up and ranked teams than any other small school conference in Ohio. But this season it has also become a top to bottom jungle where anybody can beat anybody. That was on display in Saturday’s New Bremen Sectional where the MAC runner-up Marion Local Flyers had to fight for their lives to defeat eighth place Fort Recovery 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 28-30, 15-3. It was the state tournament sectional opener for Marion, which just happens to be the second ranked team in the state in Division IV. It was also the Flyers’ third overtime match in a row. In their regular season finale they pulled out all the stops to defeat last place Delphos St. John’s 25-16, 34-32, 20-25, 22-25, 15-12. Two days prior to that they fell in five to fifth ranked New Bremen, and the Cardinals ended up MAC champions as a result, but only after they won their final league match over Fort Recovery – also in five! Earlier in the season Marion Local lost two other five gamers. One was in the MAC to Versailles, the other was to top ranked Jackson Center, a member of the adjacent Shelby County Athletic league which also includes Anna and Fort Recovery. Fort Recovery finished the season at 9-13 with all of their non-league losses coming at the hands of ranked opponents. They are a formidable volleyball team, and they proved it on Saturday. The Indians start four seniors with no one shorter than 5’7”, save for 5’5” libero Emily May. They are led offensively by 5’10” junior setter Nicole Pottkotter, 5’10” outside Joanna Snyder, 6’0” Kinsey Wenning, and 5’11” middle Anne Koesters. On Saturday, their defense was what really helped them keep pace with the Flyers, and Snyder in particular did a great job of reading plays and being in the right place at the right time for many great passes. Marion Local looks much different than last year’s senior laden championship squad, which had four spikers ranging from 6’0 to 6’4”. Their current starting lineup consists of one senior, one junior, four sophomores and a freshman. Their leading hitter is 5’9” sophomore all-around sensation Alyssa Winner. Coach Amy Steininger said afterward “We’re definitely a defensive minded team this year… we have a lot of quickness back there…it’s a different style than we’ve done the past two years because we don’t have anybody 6-foot”. Well, technically that’s true. But they do have 5’11” freshman middle blocker Margaret Wuebker, 5’10” sophomore right side Casey Heitkamp and 5’11” junior Ashley Lochtefeld. Yet on Saturday it wasn’t their hitting you noticed, rather it was the acrobatics of Winner, 5’5” libero Jessica Schwieterman, 5’2” Alyse Bergman, 5’0” junior Shelby Moeller and 5’2” senior Tara Hastings. Moeller and Hastings are actually setters, but they can (and did) flat out dig when called upon. The match, which lasted two hours and ten minutes, was an extravaganza of exciting volleys made possible by stellar passing and digging. “We kept a lot of balls alive tonight”, Steininger said afterward. “I’ve never seen a game with so many saves…on both sides of the net…there were just some unbelievable saves!” Marion Local scored first and the teams traded points until kills by Wenning and Koesters put the Indians up 5-3. The Flyers retied at 5-5 and the teams traded scores again until 8-all. Then Heitkamp blocked, Winner and Wuebker double blocked and Winner spiked a kill to put Marion atop 11-8. More point trading ensued until kills by 5’8” sophomore Kaylee Schaefer and 5’9” junior Leah Rosenbeck increased Marion’s lead to 17-13. Pottkotter and Wenning briefly reduced the gap to two, before Marion scored five of six, helped by an ace by Hartings. Winner demolished a set by Hartings after an Indians’ timeout. But Snyder pounded a kill down the line and block killed, starting a Fort Recovery rally that reduced the lead to 22-21. May passed a blast by Winner which Koesters followed with a kill, and after a Flyer miscue, Kelsey Wuebker smoked a kill. Following a timeout, Winner ended the run with a kill, and then delivered a liner serve that Fort Recovery dug into a hole on its own side. Snyder scored one more kill for the Indians, negating a great pancake by Schwieterman, before Lochtefeld delivered a tip that Fort Recovery could not return. The Indians scored first in set two on a cross court blast by Pottkotter, and retied at 4-all on a well placed hit by Snyder and a block on Winner by Kelsey Wuebker. But following that, Hartings dumped into a hole to end a long volley that Snyder had extended, and with Winner serving the Flyers taxied out to an 11-4 lead. Rosenbeck contributed two kills. Fort Recovery closed to 11-7, but Lochtefeld slammed the comeback door shut, getting two blocks. Hartings contributed a partial block dig and a short set. The Indians could get no closer than six, and Lochtefeld finished them off with another block. With no foreshadowing of what was to come, Margaret Wuebker popped a low set over the net into a hole to get the Flyers started in game three. Snyder dug a Marion serve over and into a hole to tie, but Wuebker came right back with a kill and the Flyers moved ahead 4-1. Snyder ended two intense volleys with kills, and Winner retorted with a spike to make it 5-3, as both teams ratcheted up the defenses a notch. And when Koesters lofted a soft hit to a hole in Marion’s mid-court, the momentum changed. Sophomore middle Holly Brunswick tipped to end an intense volley and Snyder finished two more long volleys with a block and spike. And after an interruption by Rosenbeck, Snyder arched a hit over the defense that was dug into the pole, then served three more points to put the Indians up 11-6. The Flyers scored three and closed to 12-11, but Wenning terminated a quick hit, crisp passing by Snyder led to two scores, and Pottkotter buried a set by junior Josie Guggenbiller. That put Fort Recovery on top 17-11, and the Flyers got no closer than 19-16. At that point Snyder dug a serve into a hole, followed up with a kill, and tipped a Kelsey Wuebker short set for a point. The made it 22-17, and Wenning added three kills from there to end the game. Marion took a 2-0 lead in game four, but Fort Recovery tied it, and the teams traded service errors, the Wuebkers exchanged kills, and more point trading left the score knotted at six. A hit by Lochtefeld over the blockers was blocked out and Moeller served Marion ahead 10-6. The Flyers advanced to 13-8 on a kill and ace by Rosenbeck, and to 17-11 when Heitkamp and Wuebker teamed for a block of Snyder, and Hartings scored a dump after some defensive razzle dazzle. The Indians rallied, however, as Kelsey Wuebker terminated a Pottkotter set and encored with another kill, defensive specialist Alyssa Brackman served an ace and Wuebker blocked Heitkamp to cut the Flyers’ lead to two. Winner stopped the run with a kill and short served into a hole, and the teams traded points to 22-18 with Schwieterman, Rosenbeck, Lochtefeld, Moeller and Winner all coming up with saves for Marion. Snyder followed a Flyer hitting error with a tip and a booming block, but the Indians’ next serve was long, with Marion receivers pulling away just in time, leaving Marion atop 23-21. But when Koesters scored a block kill for the Indians, thereby negating a pancake save by Moeller, Fort Recovery rallied ahead. Kelsey Wuebker tipped into a hole to tie, and Pottkotter delivered an ace. Winner retied it at 24, and Marion went back on top on a long hit. Snyder faked to the middle on that one, but the next time she pounded a quick set by Pottkotter to retie. Winner put Marion back on top with a second effort kill after her first was rejected. On the next volley a Fort Recovery spike appeared to have been rejected by the net, and one line judge indicated as such. But play continued until the Indians scored the tying point. A ten minute controversy ensued, with conferences between all four refs, and discussions between refs, captains and coaches. Even after a replay was called, the conversations continued. When play finally resumed, the Flyers quickly got into the net and the score was tied. The next volley was intense and Kelsey Wuebker finally ended it with a spike that was dug far and away. But Rosenbeck retaliated by spiking right at a defender, and Marion went back on top when Schwieterman and Moeller dove for saves and Fort Recovery finally hit the ball out. Wenning retied it at 28 with a kill off the block, and she encored with another volley ending blast. And when Pottkotter smoked a short set spike to an empty spot in Marion’s back court, the match was tied at 2-2. Coach Steininger said afterward that at that point “we just had to regroup because whatever call the official made it was over…and we just had to keep playing because the game wasn’t over. She said she told the girls “ to keep playing, you’re going to have to earn this victory because the other team’s not going to hand it you, you’re going to have to go out there and play hard”. She explained that the Flyers’ last five gamer was a win against Delphos, and they’d lost three other five gamers before that. So she told the girls “that Delphos game happened for a reason, it proved we could win in five games”. Steininger felt her team “had a lot of confidence going into that fifth game, even though we lost the previous two games we still felt good about ourselves”. Marion did indeed come out hard. Pottkotter scored first for the Indians after another great dig by Snyder on Winner. But after another diving save by Snyder, Winner pounded a kill down the line and she added two more kills, one following a dig from Bergman. Wenning finally blocked Winner for to end the run. The next volley was one of the most intense of the match, and Marion finally won the point on a tip off the block - it was impossible to tell by whom with both teams embroiled at the net. Fort Recovery obliged with a hitting error, and they followed with a long hit after the Flyers’ Heitkamp dove at the net to prevent a score. On the next volley, a tip by Snyder went barely out, so close she thought she had it. Snyder followed with a blast down the left that ended yet another fiercely contested volley. That left Marion in front 7-3. But Winner responded with a spike that was dug into the net, and Fort Recovery followed with five hitting errors, most on attempts to hit empty or hard to reach spots. Steininger would say afterward “they were going for it”. One spike exploded harmlessly just over the line, and Flyer defenders pulled away at the last second. Another came after Heitkamp dove to save a partially blocked Snyder spike. With the score now 13-3, Lochtefeld block killed and Rosenbeck lofted a soft tip into a hole for match point. Steininger summed up the post match interview by saying “it was a very entering match to watch, I’m sure”. It was. ***************************************************************************** The MAC champion and fifth ranked New Bremen found itself in a similarly contested struggle against 16th rated Minster. The last time these two met, which was at New Bremen, Minster handed the Cardinals their only conference loss 25-22, 19-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-12. After that setback the Cardinals regrouped to defeat Sidney Lehman Catholic on the road. Then they nipped host Versailles in a 17-15 tiebreaker and won home five gamers against Marion Local and Fort Recovery. The Cardinals concluded their season at a quad with Central District big schools, downing Olentangy Liberty and Canal Winchester, before dropping their season finale to tall and powerful Olentangy. And in the sectional on Saturday, New Bremen finally avenged their loss to Minster with a hard fought 25-14, 29-27, 20-25, 25-22 victory to advance to the District final on Tuesday evening against Marion Local. Cardinal Coach Lisa Thobe had reminded her players at midweek that “all the teams left we went five with” and said that “they knew in their heads it was going to be a battle, no matter who we played”. Stating the obvious, she concluded with “I'm just thrilled we got out of here in four”. Game one did not begin well for the Wildcats as New Bremen flew out to a 6-0 lead behind blocks by 6’0” senior outside Cleveland State recruit Jackie Dabbelt, and senior outside Lindsay Warner. Dabbelt added a kill and senior middle blocker Stacy Timmerman served two aces. Sophomore 5’10” setter/middle hitter Erica Fullenkamp got Minster on the board with a kill, but Dabbelt demolished a Taylor Jones shoot. With the Cardinals up 11-6, Jones, who will head for the University of Maryland next season, blasted a Becca Dwenger backset cross court spike. Senior outside Lindsay Warner smoked a kill, Jones served an ace, Dabbelt pounded a backcourt shot into to right corner and senior middle blocker Stacy Timmerman clobbered another of Jones’ shoots. All this upped New Bremen’s lead to 16-6. Minster closed a bit to 18-12, but the Cardinals cruised to the finish with a 7-2 run. The Wildcats came out snarling in the next set, however, taking a 4-0 lead helped by two blocks from Fullenkamp and a knock down kill from 5’10” sophomore middle Delanie Wolf. Timmerman ended the spurt with a kill and then served an ace, and Dabbelt pounded two spikes to tie. The score was knotted at 5, 6 and 7 as Dabbelt and Fullenkamp traded quick hits, and the latter also scored on an arching dig that that dropped in at the back line. But Minster moved back atop 9-7, increasing their edge to 11-8 and 13-9 on kills by senior outside Austi Weitzel and 5’10” sophomore Emily Barhorst, and an ace from outside Sarah Purpus. Timmerman once again came to the Cardinals’ rescue with a tip, and served up three points including an ace. With the score 14-all, Fullenkamp demolished a short set from sophomore Ellen Gruber to start a five point Wildcat run. Sophomore outside/defensive specialist Meghan Baumer served an ace and New Bremen obliged with two hitting errors. Purpus scored another kill, after Baumer had dug a blast from Dabbelt, and that point would be the first of 24 straight earned scores, as fans were treated to a stellar display of kills and blocks by both teams. Dabbelt terminated a short set from Jones to get New Bremen going, and followed by lining a Dwenger backset across court. On the next volley Dwenger returned a ball that was drilled right at her, and junior outside Amy Elking block killed. Jones and Dabbelt then teamed on a block to cut the lead to one. Minster called timeout, and Fullenkamp responded with a kill, but Dabbelt reposted with a shot that was dug to the wall. Timmerman and Elking teamed up for three kills while Dabbelt, libero Michelle Griesdorn and Dwenger kept the Cardinals’ backcourt free of balls. And when Jones blocked Purpus the Cardinals were up 23-20. Purpus immediately turned the table with a block on Jones, and ended the next intense volley with a kill. Jones responded with a termination to put the Cardinals on the verge. But Wolf retorted with a termination, and then stuff blocked Timmerman. She followed that with a great serve that New Bremen, however, kept in play. Griesdorn retied the game with a hit from backcourt. Ward then blasted another termination, Timmerman retied with a hard to reach tip that was dug into the stands, and Ward blasted yet another point to keep Minster a step ahead at 27-26. That brought Dabbelt to the fore and she took charge, starting with a hesitation liner to the back middle. On the next volley, Griesdorn dug a bomb Weitzel, and Dabbelt delivered a bomb of her own. And when Griesdorn’s ensuing serve was returned too close to the net, Dabbelt two-handed the game point into a hole on her left. Thobe later called that comeback win “huge” and added, “We were pretty far behind and caught up. For them to do that...against a good team like that… it was very important for them to know that no matter how many points they are behind they can win the game”. Minster drew first blood in game three on a Cardinal long hit, which although it counted as an error, it followed several great digs by both sides. Scoring went back and forth with ties to four, and again at six after a brief Minster lead. Minster scored two, New Bremen went atop 9-8 with three straight and Minster added three including an ace by Gruber. The score was tied at 11 and again at 15 with Minster leading in the interim. A kill by Weitzel put Minster ahead, for good as it turned out, and following a long Cardinal hit, Barhorst block killed to make the score 18-15. New Bremen closed to one on kills by Dabbelt and Jones, but soon after Baumer spiked two points to open up a 22-18 Wildcat margin, and after point trading, Fiullenkamp drilled the game winner. New Bremen scored first in game four, but Minster quickly moved out 6-2 on four Cardinal miscues, a termination by Fullenkamp and an ace from Baumer. Dabbelt, however started a four point run with two kills as Jones terminated and Elking spiked a tying kill. From there the score was knotted at 7, 8 and 9 at which point Jones sent a diving dig across the net and court into a hole. She then served the Cardinals off to a 14-9 lead, as Dabbelt and Griesdorn parried Wildcat spikes. Dabbelt scored on a diving dig to make it 15-10, and a bit later pounded a quick hit to up the ante to 19-13. Minster narrowed the margin to 19-16 and 21-18. Jones and Dabbelt double blocked for a point, but the Cardinals were called for four hits on the next volley. And after Ward ended two contested volleys with a block kill and a quick hit, New Bremen called time out, clinging to a 22-21 lead. Thobe did not remember afterward what she said in the huddle. “I don't know. I just talk...we always have these, what I call clumps of points, where we get behind, and I know if I just call timeout and tell them to look what they are doing, they can normally get themselves back on track”. A long serve helped with the tracking, and Jones blocked Ward to give the Cardinals a 24-21 cushion. Ward came back with a kill, but a long hit ended Wildcat hopes for another five game victory. Thobe said afterward “All in all I think we did a great job. We touched a lot of balls at the net”. She said the only down note came in the third game when the Cardinals missed three serves and “that really put the damper on us”. But she credited her setters for doing “a good job of putting the ball where we needed put it” which she said was “very crucial”. She noted they made sure that whoever got the ball was the right one when they really needed the point. ************************************************************************** Marion Local stats from Saturday versus Fort Recovery
Alyssa Winner (big all-around game!) - 22 kills, 24 digs, 2 aces,
3 blocks
New Bremen stats from Saturday versus Minster
Stacy Timmerman - 4 aces
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