CORALVILLE – Frazzled seemed to be the word of choice for Holy Trinity Catholic Tuesday night as they exited the IGHSAU State Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals with a 3-set loss to BCLUW.
The Crusaders fell 25-22, 25-16, 25-19 on a rare night when HTC couldn’t put together any runs.
“We went into it knowing that their outside hitters were really strong, and they were really strong. They hit a lot of good balls down the line and that got us frazzled,” said junior middlehitter Presley Myers. “That was a hard thing to handle for us.”
Myers and sophomore Adalyn Kruse each had 10 kills on the night, but the Crusaders just couldn’t string anything together outside of a 9-5 first set lead that crumbled quickly to a 10-10 tie, one of seven in the opening set that led to four lead changes.
The Comets seemed to capitalize on the momentum of that early comeback to take control of the set and ,essentially, the match.
HTC would fight back in the first set, catching the Comets at 17 and 18 and got a one-point lead at 19-18 on a kill by Myers.
That would push that lead to 22-20, but then BCLUW’s Kiayre Gallentine served out five straight aided by a kill and a block from senior Sarah Gerber. HTC’s Elizabeth Griffin’s attack at 22-24 went long and the Comets had the first set.
Holy Trinity never really was in the second set trailing 6-0 out of the gate on Oliva Peters’ nine straight service points. The Crusaders would never get within eight points the rest of the set as Farnsworth kept shooting down the lines and the HTC defense would get a little porous.
Things started better in the third set as Myers got back-to-back kills to open the set 2-0. A double hit call on the Comets made it 3-0 but then BCLUW went back to work and tied things up at 9. They took a 12-11 lead but the Crusaders battled back and got a block from Myers and Kruse to keep the set at one point 15-16. The Comets would roll off four straight before Kruse got a side out with a kill.
But the Comets kept stringing together two and three-point runs to get to 24-19 before freshman Layne Schmitt, who came in for an injured Olivia Bendlage at 22-19 in her only action in the post-season, hit long to end the match.
“Normally when we start the set right like that first set, we do alright. And I don’t know what happened. We had a lot of motivation starting that way, but we just kinda lost that strength as we went on,” said Myers, who got her 1,000th career kill in the match.
“We had a half new team and a lot of young girls this year and we did a good job of adapting to them and next year we’re going to be young again, but these girls have learned a lot about handling pressure and it’s going to fun next year.”
Senior Anna Bendlage said it was weird to see so many of her teammates struggle at the same time.
“I think we were just frazzled. It was weird that so many of us were struggling at the same time with things. Usually it’s oh, this is going wrong or that, but this was weird having a lot of people struggling together. But it’s a big stage. Its hard to react here like your home gym.
She said the message to the girls after the first set was to play with positivity, “no matter what”.
“It sucks leaving early, but it’s so super fun. Our end goal was to win a state championship, but we got to so many of our other goals that this year was a super accomplishment,” she said.
Fellow senior Teagan Snaadt said everything just started a little off.
“I think it started bumpy. There were a lot of nerves. Not everyone has played here and there were girls playing big roles. I know that’s really nerve racking the first time. We got out to a good start, but something hit our nerves and then everything didn’t flow as we thought it would.”
She said she’s grateful for the experience.
“I couldn’t be more grateful for the teammates that have come through here. The upperclassmen before me and the underclassmen I’ve played with. The amazing coaches I’ve had for four years. I just can’t be sad about it because that’s something a lot of girls don’t do and we made good runs every year,” she said.
Head Coach Melissa Freesmeier summed up the match saying the Crusaders just couldn’t get any runs going.
“We did some good things, but we couldn’t get big runs.,” she said. “Give them credit, they touched a lot of balls on defense and got some balls up. Our kids stayed aggressive, but it just wasn’t our night tonight.
“We just couldn’t get it going. We weren’t very smooth tonight and, unfortunately, that happens. A great team did great things tonight and we didn’t get the win. If we would have pulled that first set out, who knows what would have happened, but we just couldn’t get our rhythm tonight."
She said after losing the seniors last year, getting back to state was a big goal for the team this season, and seniors Teagan Snaadt and Bendlage helped bring that goal home.
“After losing the seniors last year, this was a big goal for us. Teagan and Anna led this team all year long and continued to help everyone get better and better. That’s a a great accomplishment for them. Our kids are young, and we’ll miss those seniors. They are great kids and great leaders,” she said.
“But we still have some youth on our side. So we’ll get back in the gym and be ready for next year.”
Griffin was 14 of 14 serving with two aces. Olivia Bendlage was 13 of 15 with two aces. Anna Bendlage had 26 assists for the Crusaders. Kruse and Myers each had a block.
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