Cards bow out in district final to Rangers
ELIDA — The New Knoxville Rangers got their revenge and roped themselves a district title on Thursday night, defeating New Bremen in four sets: 23-25, 25-13, 2516 and 25-21.
The Rangers had dropped the previous match between the two, 3-1, on Oct. 12 and were swept by the Cardinals last year in the district final that was held in New Bremen.
“We’re very excited,” said Rangers coach Meg Lageman. “This is where we wanted to be. We want to keep moving up our ladder — which is what we call it — and that’s what we’re doing. Hopefully we can get all the way to the top.”
New Bremen took the first set, in a game that saw the Cardinals lead by as many as six a couple of different times.
The Rangers rallied toward the end of the set and were able to cut it to one point at 24-23, but a kill by Olivia Heitkamp sealed it for New Bremen.
The second set was close, at least early on. An ace by New Bremen’s Amelia Dammeyer made it 11-10 with the Rangers leading, but New Knoxville began a run, winning six of the next seven points to get out to a 17-11 lead. New Bremen would earn two of the next three points to make it 18-13 but thanks to great serving from Ellie Gabel, the Rangers earned a 25-13 set win.
New Knoxville jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set. New Bremen hung in and got close at 8-7, but thanks to great offensive play, especially from senior Carsyn Henschen, the Rangers rattled off a 25-16 victory.
Henschen was recently named player of the year for both the Midwest Athletic Conference and District 8.
In the fourth set, the Cardinals got out to an early lead but the Rangers took the lead back following a kill by Avery Henschen and New Knoxville never looked back.
The Cardinals cut it to two
points a couple of times, with the last being at 23-21, but a smash by Carsyn followed by a mishit from the Cardinals on the match’s final point gave the victory to New Knoxville.
“I think we were mentally focused in this match,” said Lageman. “It didn’t matter if Bremen got a point, the next one was ours and they felt like they handled themselves.”
After dropping the first set, Lageman said she wasn’t worried because she felt her girls gained a lot of momentum after making a comeback in the set.
“We had some points and came back and went on a run. I told them, ‘That set’s in the past. But let’s take that momentum and energy into the next set.’ I thought we did a very good job of that,” she said.
Carsyn Henschen led the way for the Rangers on Thursday with 25 kills and four blocks.
“She played great tonight. I told her before the game to just swing because if it’s going to work, it’s going to keep working, and it did,” said Lageman. “She really didn’t need to change anything up. I just told her to play like herself.”
New Knoxville will now turn their focus to Leipsic, who defeated Miller City 3-0 on Thursday.
“It feels good. We’re going to remember this and celebrate it tonight,” said Lageman. “Then tomorrow we’ve got regionals to focus on. That’s what we wanted and I’m glad we’re here.”
As for New Bremen, this year will be the first year the Cardinals won’t reach regionals since 2015.
“This team has been though so much heartbreak off the court. This team has been maybe the closest team that I ever coached,” said Cardinals coach Diana Kramer.
Kramer spoke of the “dash” that occurs between one’s birth date and death date.
“You have a birth date, you have a death date, but how you live your dash is the most important thing,” said Kramer. “We have a record right now and it has a dash. There may be a “1” and people look at that record and they remember that one, but my message was to remember the dash. All the memories, all the moments and the relationships because the relationships are the most important thing. People could never take away the dash from us.”
Kramer said the Rangers were able to get her team out of system and complimented Henschen on her performance.
“I give them [New Knoxville] a lot of credit. They’re a great team,” she said. “Carsyn Henschen tonight proved that she might be the best player in the state of Ohio. I’m very proud of her. I’m a huge fan of her but I’m absolutely heartbroken for my team.”
Kramer expressed disappointment with the matchup Thursday, saying that the two schools, based on performance, shouldn’t have played this early in the tournament.
“This game shouldn’t happen at this level. There are so many quality teams in the Northwest District and the fact that we have to play this match based on our geographical location, it’s not right. I think things need to change,” said Kramer. “Things have been this way since I played. The teams play their first 22 games to work their way up the tournament and I welcome conversation with people because I think the best teams — what they did in their regular season — they deserve a shot to play in the biggest games. Granted, would we have to play New Knoxville sometime? Maybe. But, these teams deserve the right to play at the highest level.”