The Daily Standard
Story Archive
St. Marys' Audrey Reineke (18) goes up for the spike as Coldwater's Paige Ontop defends.
COLDWATER - Solid serving allowed Coldwater to dominate the opening two sets against St. Marys, then held off the determined Roughriders to take a 25-11, 25-10, 25-18 win in non-conference volleyball action at the Palace on Monday.
"I think we're working through a lot of different things right now," said Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler. "We're seeing growth in different areas that we're hoping to see growth in. So we're excited about that.
The Roughriders came ready to play, taking leads early in all three sets. The Roughriders went up 3-2 in the opening set before Harlow Heyne got the kill to tie the set, then went back to serve up three straight points to make it 6-3. Later Campbell Etzler added four straight points to push the lead to 12-5. Audrey Diller, Brylee Knapke and Alivia Klingshirn each had multi-point service runs to pull away for the win with Heyne getting her second ace of the set to close out.
A kill by Averie Ibarra gave St. Marys a 2-1 lead in the second set, but after Paige Ontrop got the kill for the sideout, Campbell Etzler went to work, serving up three aces as part of an eight-point run. Mara Riethman and Ella Werling each had kills in the set to put Coldwater in front 10-2. St. Marys managed to only close the gap to 13-7 after a Cav hitting error before Klingshirn had three aces of her own during an eight-point service run to make the score 22-7. The Roughriders managed just three more points before Campbell Etzler closed out the set with a kill.
Coldwater's Mara Riethman (11) goes up to block the spike of St. Marys' Kalle Halko.
Despite the rough start, St. Marys kept fighting, getting the lead off the serve to go up 2-0. Coldwater quickly took the lead at 3-3 when the Roughriders were called for being out of rotation, but the Riders tied the set at 4-all and 5-all, then would not let the Cavaliers pull away. A kill by Audrey Reineke got St. Marys to within a point at 18-17, but a net serve gave Coldwater a sideout, then Audrey Diller served up two points to get the Cavaliers back to a four-point lead. St. Marys managed just one more point before a combo block from Heyne and Breah Roessner closed out the match.
"I was just talking about how we can make our game look a little different in the first and second sets and how the game could have gone differently for us if we remembered our roles," said St. Marys coach Caley Yoder.
"They picked up their intensity in the third set," said coach Etzler.
Coldwater's Campbell Etzler tries to put the ball past St. Marys blocker Piper Marsee.
Heyne finished with eight kills and three blocks for Coldwater. Etzler had four aces with Ontrop adding six kills.
Avery Dieringer had 14 digs for St. Marys. Kalle Halko recorded four blocks.
Both teams are back in action tonight. Coldwater plays host to Crestview with St. Marys making the short trek down State Route 29 to to New Knoxville.
