Crusaders power past Van Buren

FORT MADISON – Senior night for the No. 2 HTC Lady Crusaders ended just about as poetic as it could have with senior Lia Fullenkamp getting a kill for a 25-16 3rd set win and a sweep of Van Buren County.
The Class 1A No. 2 Crusaders took down Van Buren 25-23, 25-21, 25-16 to improve to 29-2 on the year with Central Lee on the schedule for Thursday, and then a high caliber weekend tournament in Pella.
Fullenkamp has been a role player for the Crusaders throughout her entire four years on the Crusaders' volleyball team, but got the start Tuesday and made the most of it when she rotated in toward the final set.
She said that made everything all worth it.
“If feels really good. It makes me happy. I’m kinda sad, though, to leave my teammates. But that was fun,” Fullenkamp said.
Head Coach Melissa Freesmeier said it’s rewarding for her, too, to see those girls get playing time.
“Those girls have worked hard all year. Lia has worked hard all year and to get that kill in the end was awesome,” Freesmeier said.
Van Buren put pressure on the Crusaders early, finding a temporary whole in the center back of the Holy Trinity rotation. That helped the Warriors to several runs in the first set, including a five-point stretch for a 20-15 lead in the first set. But HTC rallied to tie things at 23 on Elizabeth Griffin’s push kill to the center of the Warriors’ defense.

They would then go to senior Presley Myers in the middle with a couple strong sets and Myers put the game away 25-23. The Crusaders racked up 23 kills in the first set alone, putting a smile on Freesmeier’s face
“We hit the ball well. Offensively, we were good tonight. Van Buren dug some stuff up and we need that.  They’re a good team,” she said. “That’s the fourth time we’ve played them. We made some mistakes in set one, but we had 23 kills in that set, so we earned every one of them.”
Holy Trinity kept things closer throughout the second set, but trailed six different times before tying things up at 18 on an Aida Troutman attack error. Bendlage got a kill from the left outside spot to give HTC a 19-18 lead.  She responded with a big swing for a kill at 24-19 and then wrapped things up with a tap for a kill at 25-21.
The two teams battled in the third set, but the Warriors wore out at 12-12 on three straight kills from Griffin, Myers, and Adalyn Kruse to take a 14-12 advantage they would never relinquish. The run took the air out of the Warriors and the Crusaders sprinted to 25 to take the match.
Freesmeier said Bendlage brought her best effort of the season.
“Olivia Bendlage probably had her best offensive night of the year,” Freesmeier said. “She just kept mixing it up and did some great things. Adalyn and Presley both had a night, too.”
Freesmeier said the Crusaders will get tested before the post-season with Central Lee on Thursday, and then the Pella tournament on Saturday.
“I think, offensively, we were clean. We struggled a bit in serve-and-receive early, but we cleaned that up. We always want to get better. But things we did against a good ball club went really well.”
Kruse finished with a team-high 21 kills on 24 attacks to provide the firepower for HTC. Bendlage had 13 kills and Myers had 12. Griffin finished with 24 assists and Calli Kruse had 20. Adalyn Kruse had 21 digs and was 13 of 15 serving with an ace.