“I think Senior Night, with all the emotions, the highs and lows, had more to do with it than anything else,” Madison coach Cara Young said of her team’s level of play. “We need to bring our ‘A game’ regardless of who we play.”
Players openly cried as the team’s three seniors — Amanda Cappel, Cara Klinefelter and Lindsay Haskins — were introduced prior to the match. In a crepe paper streamer-filled gymnasium with matching red, black and white balloons, each player was escorted by their parents across the court.
Klinefelter said she was among those caught up in the emotional roller coaster.
“It was just really hard to focus on the game, because it was just sad to know I’d be leaving my teammates behind,” she said. “This season has been amazing. We’ve come really far in league and I hope we can go really far in the tournament.”
“Those three seniors,” Young said, choking back perhaps a few tears of her own, “They were freshmen during my first year here, when I was the junior varsity coach. I know each of them will go on to great things after high school, but it was sad to know that they were playing their last home game.”
First-year Carlisle coach Bethany Oleksyk said the Mohawks have all the traits of being a very good team.
“They are all very athletic and have a lot of talent. And they work well together as a team,” she said. “I have a very young team with just two seniors (Deserea Bryant and Abby Hamilton), but I’m proud of the way we played.”
Autumn Reed led the Indians (4-17) with four kills and teammate Sammy Armantrout finished with three.
The regular season might be over, but Klinefelter believes Madison has a few more games to play.
“I was probably the only one on our team who wasn’t crying tonight,” added Klinefelter. “But that’s because I think we’ve still got a lot of games to play together as a team in the tournament.”
Madison (19-2, 13-0 Buckeye) finished the SWBL season undefeated for the second consecutive year. They repeated as Buckeye Division champs and have now won the division crown two of the past three years. The third-seeded Mohawks will begin sectional tournament play against seventh seeded Mariemont at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Monroe High School.
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