Mentor ‘Rallies for Ruhe’ in match

Mentor’s match against Medina on Sept. 19 could’ve been mistaken for a Bees home match.

Green shirts filled the Cardinals’ gymnasium to match those worn by Medina. Mentor’s side wore white, with its libero in green.

The deviation from Men- tor’s usual scarlet and gray had nothing to do with the visitors, but one of the Cardinals’ own.

Mentor’s match on Sept. 19 was dubbed “Rally for Ruhe” to benefit Kris Ruhe, mother of senior outside hitter Rachel Ruhe. The match benefited Kris in her battle against adrenal gland can- cer. Green is the color for adrenal cancer awareness.

The match raised about $7,500, and the Ruhe family experienced the powerful support of the Mentor community.

“It just means that they’re my family,” Rachel Ruhe said. “With my mom, I would’ve never imagined that this would’ve happened for them. I know it’s great for her, it’s great for the whole community. She’s happy about it.”

Kris Ruhe addressed the crowd prior to the match after Mentor’s Top 25 Show Choir performed.

The Cardinals sold more than 400 shirts, priced at $10, which included admission to the match. The 50-50 reached $950 — half of which went to the Ruhe family. Mentor also raffled off 40 Chinese auction baskets filled with items from local sponsors including Mentor Mitsubishi-Kia, the

Crop comments: Mentor ascends to the top spot for the first time this season. The Cardinals lost to Division I No. 15 Strongsville while Gilmour fell to No. 16 Toledo St. Ursula, but Mentor edges the Lancers upon comparison of Mentor’s win against Medina and Gilmour’s loss to Independence. The Cardinals and Lancers are essentially 1A and 1B in the area right now.

Mentor Police Athletic Association and CareerCurve, among many others.

Ruhe was also one of four honorees in the boys and girls soccer programs’ Kick for a Cure.

As the match helped a teammate’s family, Cardinals coach Stephen Scherlacher All eyes will be on Mentor this weekend, where the top three teams in this space compete in the Cardinals’ NEO Power Tournament. There, midseason area supremacy could become clear . ... Gilmour’s onespot drop could easily be reversed with a strong showing this weekend. The Lancers ran into a bit of a buzzsaw last week, with the match against D-I power St. Ursula preceded by a trip to Independence — where the Blue Devils annually salivate over the chance to knock off the program that eliminates them from the postseason each year . ... NDCL moves up to No. 8 after a 3-0 performance at the Hudson Quad. The Lions lost to defending state champion Padua, 3-1, but winning just one game against the Bruins is a feat few area teams could accomplish. NDCL has potential to rise much higher in this space with a match against Lake Catholic on Sept. 21 . ... Geneva and Cardinal enter the crop as the Eagles continue to win and the Huskies rebound from a slow start . ... Beaumont’s case to remain in the top 10 is strong. The Blue Streaks would likely beat some of the teams ahead of them in head-to-head play, as they defeated VASJ this past week, and Beaumont plays one of the area’s toughest schedules.

also saw the value of a lesson imparted by the match.

“You realize it’s bigger than volleyball,” Scherlacher said. “Although we love trying to be our best at volleyball, it’s good to have days like this where we realize it’s bigger than volleyball.”

Kris Ruhe sat in the front row with a large bouquet of flowers. There, she watched as her daughter scored each game point in each set of Mentor’s 3-0 win against Medina.

The plan to set Ruhe in those instances wasn’t a mandate from the sidelines. Ruhe’s classmate, senior setter Alex Cundy, made the call to add another special layer to the “Rally for Ruhe.”

“That was my friend Alexa,” Ruhe said. “She’s awesome, she was like ‘You’re going to do it.’ It felt good.”

Between the fundraising effort and spiritual support of the community, Mentor showed what it will do when one of the Cardinals’ own is in need.

“They’ll fight for them until they’re all better,” Ruhe said. “It’s awesome. I’m so happy.”

In the polls

Gilmour the area’s highest-ranked team in the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association poll at No. 5 in Division II. Lake Catholic is ranked No. 7 and NDCL No. 10 in D-II.

Mentor is ranked No. 14 in D-I.

Reminder to area coaches

Coaches and statisticians are asked to submit their weekly statistics by noon each Wednesday. Statistics can be emailed to scores@News-Herald.com or nbarnes@News-Herald.com. ... Coaches are also reminded to submit their box score results after each game, win or lose. Please include statistics for both teams and the teams’ records.