Cards down Rangers in volleyball action

NEW BREMEN — This made for an aboveaverage Tuesday.

New Bremen and New Knoxville squared off in a Midwest Athletic Conference volleyball showdown at the Nest, with the Cardinals earning a 3-1 victory to remain undefeated.

New Bremen won the first two sets, 25-14 and 25-20. New Knoxville then took the third 25-16. The fourth was tightly contested before New Bremen won 25-21 to close it out.

New Bremen improves to 8-0 in the league and 21-0 overall. The Lady Rangers suffered just the second loss of the year, and the first in best-of-five format. They are now 7-1 in the MAC and 19-2 overall.

Coach Diana Kramer of New Bremen said, “This was a great match and a great environment,” giving praise to the effort on both sides.

“You saw some volleys that were collegiate level,” Kramer said, “You saw hits that were collegiate level.” She added that with the strength of teams in the MAC, sometimes the level of play can get taken for granted, “It’s not like this everywhere,” she pointed out.

Kramer said that one of the big keys to the win was the solid passing by New Bremen in order to set up hits that led to points. “The passing to target is what makes our team special,” she said.

New Knoxville coach Meg Lageman said, “I give a lot of credit to New Bremen.” She noted that New Knoxville struggled early in the match, especially in the opening set. “In the third and fourth, we picked it up, but we have to have that from the beginning,” she said.

“We just have to learn from this. Another season starts next week,” Lageman said.

A large number of fans were wearing pink on Tuesday in recognition of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Coach Kramer noted that “you play sports to teach you lessons.” She noted that those lessons include to keep fighting and never giving up.

New Knoxville got the first point of the match, but New Bremen dominated after that in the opening set. The Lady Cards took an 8-2 lead before a Rangers timeout, then had a 5-2 run to go ahead 13-4.

New Knoxville then rallied a bit to reach double digits, but New Bremen kept picking up points as well to maintain the lead. A 3-0 run by New Bremen made it 20-10.

The teams then traded points several times, mostly off each other’s serve. The final point came with New Bremen hitting the ball off New Knoxville for the 25th point.

The Lady Rangers went up 4-2 in the early going of the second set, with multiple hits by Carsyn Henschen. New Bremen then had a 4-0 run which included a kill by Kaylee Freund.

New Knoxville outscored the hosts 8-4 to get back in front. The Cards then scored to regain the serve. With Amelia Dammeyer sending it over, they scored four straight. Mia Schmitmeyer had a kill and a couple of the serves went unreturned. That put them ahead 15-12.

After a timeout, New Bremen maintained the lead, then extended it with a 5-1 run. New Knoxville extended things before a Cardinals kill gave them the five-point win and a 2-0 set lead.

Having to win the third set to keep the match going, New Knoxville took an 8-4 lead in the early stages. New Bremen would come back and tie it.

The Lady Rangers responded with a 9-1 run, mostly with Ellie Gabel doing the serving to make it 17-9.

The margin tightened a bit, but New Knoxville regained the serve and earned the last several points to win by nine.

The fourth set saw a few ties early on. New Knoxville then managed to take a small lead and maintain it as the serve changed hands frequently. Trailing 10-8, New Bremen scored twice to draw even.

New Knoxville again went in front, but couldn’t put together a dominant run, and the Cardinals kept within a couple of points.

A New Knoxville error tied it and a Cardinals kill put them ahead for the first time in the set, 20-19. After the Rangers tied it, New Bremen scored once. The next rally lasted close to a minute, with New Bremen taking the point when Avery Henschen’s shot landed just out of bounds.

After a timeout, a kill by Freund and another Rangers shot that landed out made it match point.

New Knoxville staved it off once, but a kill by freshman Melina Schrader clinched the set and the match.

Match Notes

Both teams will finish the regular season on Thursday with league matches at home. New Bremen will take on Fort Recovery, and New Knoxville will face Marion Local.

In the Division IV sectional tournament, New Bremen will face the winner of Arlington and Waynesfield-Goshen. New Knoxville gets the winner between Hardin Northern and Upper Scioto Vallley.