Fretful exit for 59ers
When Audrey Nohos speaks, her Andrean teammates listen. The senior had a few words to say at semistate in match that went five sets
Andrean senior Audrey Nohos wasn’t leaving the postseason this way.
The 6-foot-1 middle blocker made sure her teammates weren’t, either, after losing the first two sets against Wapahani in the Class 2A Frankfort Semistate on Saturday.
“I told them I wasn’t done,” she said. “I’ve put in so much time and energy into this program, and I’m not going out like this. We’re going to five sets, or you’ll have to drag me off the court. There was no other option.”
Buoyed by those words, Andrean rallied from the dismal start but fell just short of completing the comeback in a 15-25, 15-25, 25-16, 25-20, 10-15 thriller.
Wapahani (31-5) was the second-ranked team in 2A, according to the final state coaches poll. One of its earliest victories this season came against Lake Central, which lost 15-25, 13-25, 23-25 to nationally ranked Hamilton Southeastern in the Class 4A Frankfort Semistate on Saturday.
But after Andrean (29-6) lost decisively in the first two sets, Nohos was one of several seniors who spoke up.
“We were kind of tearing up because we knew that, if we didn’t get it together, this is how we were going to go out,” Nohos said. “And that’s not the team or the players we’ve been. The team we were in the first and second sets was not the team we practiced so long to be.”
The passion that came pouring out of Nohos, who led the 59ers with four blocks, could not have sprung from a better source, coach Grant Bell said.
“She’s just such a good kid,” Bell said. “There isn’t a soul at that school who doesn’t like her, and it translates onto the court. When she says something, it resonates.”
Andrean’s offensive explosion was driven by junior outside hitter Marin Sanchez and senior outside hitter Annelise Allegretti, who led the 59ers with 17 kills and 12 kills, respectively. The 59ers rode that wave to a blowout in the third set and then rallied from an early 9-1 deficit in the fourth set to force a decisive fifth.
Senior libero Kara Schutz, who had a team-high 22 digs, said the senior-laden lineup turned its emotional boost into fundamental improvement.
of us,” she said. “Even Julia Lucas — she never cries — but she was crying, too, saying how much she really wanted this. Then everyone stepped up and played their role. It was a little more communication and implementing what we’d worked on in practice.”
Bell said the 59ers’ rally in the fourth set included “probably the best display of volleyball I’ve ever seen them put on.”
After such a close defeat, he couldn’t find any faults.
“It’s easy, when things don’t go as planned, to sit back and blame yourself,” he said. “But I can’t find any blame in this. That was a state championship-level match against a state championship-level team. They just did a little better than us.”
Instead, Bell pointed to the overall success of his senior class, which will leave school with a pair of semistate appearances and a 2021 state championship on their list of accolades.
“Time will tell how important this group was to Andrean volleyball,” he said. “We’ll look at this program in the future, and we’ll see all these young girls who looked up to this senior class and will want to imitate them
and what they’ve achieved. It’s everything you could want as a coach.
“It’ll probably take some days to get there, but they should be proud of what they’ve done.”
For Schutz, her mind turned to a group that started as opponents at various Catholic grade schools around the area but became teammates as freshmen at Andrean and evolved from
there.
“There were six of us on JV as freshmen, and those girls are the ones who are starting on varsity now,” Schutz said with teary eyes. “And we’re all super close now. This will last us a lifetime. The way we’ve all grown is something we’ll cherish forever.”
Nohos located some of the big-picture perspective that Bell referenced while also
acknowledging the immediate sting of defeat.
“I really wanted another ring,” she said. “I probably would’ve punched another player to get one. But I’m still pretty proud of how we did and the people and players that we are.”
“It was pretty damn good,” she added.