“Our regular season schedule, our conference schedule, gets us ready for this,” New Bremen coach Diana Kramer said. “We’ve been playing tough competition all year and we have to come ready to play every single night.”
The Cardinals were ready Saturday. The first-time state qualifiers wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard as New Bremen jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set, forcing Aquinas to burn a timeout. Blocking, serving and finding the gaps — everything was working for the Cardinals as New Bremen sped to a 25-9 win in the opening set.
“On the bus, we were talking about how the nerves stop here,” Cardinals outside hitter Paige Jones said.
The Knights settled their nerves in the second set, finding some answers for the explosive Cardinals offense. It was knotted at 13-13 midway through the set. But New Bremen hitters Jones and Julia Goettemoeller provided a powerful 1-2 punch as the Cardinals pulled ahead. Jones capped the set with an ace as New Bremen led 2-0. The Michigan-bound senior outside hitter finished the day with three aces and 25 kills. Aquinas tallied 20 kills as a team.
In a must-win third set, the Knights kept fighting. But after three early lead changes and eight tie scores, New Bremen started to pull away. Strong serving — with a pair of aces by Taylor Paul and another by Jones — helped boost New Bremen to a 22-15 lead and the eventual title.
The school of just 250 and the town of less than 3,000 — most of whom packed into the Nutter Center on Saturday — had something to celebrate.
“These girls aren’t going to stop smiling for the rest of their lives when they think of this day,” Kramer said.
Division III: Versailles added to the MAC tourney title total – now at 123 – as the Tigers earned their second state volleyball championship in a five-set showdown against conference foe Coldwater, 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9 in the D-III final Saturday. The Tigers, making their sixth state appearance, last won the title in 2013.
Coldwater, 28-1 heading into the final, won the late-season match-up between the MAC rivals in four sets but Versailles had already toppled an undefeated team in the state semifinals and was unfazed by past performances.
Coldwater set the tone early in the first set, rattling off five straight points to take a 6-3 lead. Versailles chipped away at the lead, evening the contest at 18-18 and pulling ahead 20-19 on a kill by right-side hitter Elizabeth Ording. But the balanced Cavaliers offense rallied with four straight points from four different players helping Coldwater close it out.
The well-matched teams played through eight tie scores in a tight second set in which Versailles held only a slim one-point lead, 21-20, late. A pair of Cavaliers errors and a pair of kills by Ording were all the Tigers needed to even the match.
With four sets in the book, the crowd was on its feet as 15 points would determine the D-III state champion. Knotted at 9-9, the Tigers took control. Senior middle blocker Danielle Winner pounded in the go-ahead point, adding another kill to her team-high total of 25 moments later. Outside hitter Mallory Marshal posted back-to-back points and defensive specialist Caitlin McEldowney capped the win with an ace as the black and orange faithful erupted into cheers.
Division I: Cincinnati Ursuline Academy joined elite and familiar company as the Lions won their sixth state volleyball title. Ursuline swept Cleveland Saint Joseph Academy, 25-14, 25-11, 25-22, in the Division I championship, joining conference foe Seton in the six-title club. Four schools in the 43-year history of the state tournament have posted more wins — St. Henry (7), Newark Catholic and St. Ursula (8) and Mt. Notre Dame (9).
Division II: Top-ranked Parma Padua Franciscan swept Sunbury Big Walnut 25-20, 25-14, 25-10 to win their fourth title.
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