HILLTOP SENIOR … Brynn Rodriguez slams home one of her 21 kills on the night to lead Hilltop past North Central in straight sets.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
SECTIONAL FINAL … North Central Emmi Hollstein plays a shot over the net last Wednesday in a Division VII sectional final at Hilltop.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
WEST UNITY (October 15, 2025) – During the regular season, Hilltop and North Central split a pair of five-set matches. This time, when the two teams met in a Division VII Sectional final at Hilltop, there would be no fourth set, much less a fifth, as senior Brynn Rodriguez took matters into her own hands over and over, and led the Cadets to a solid 25-13, 25-12, 26-24 triumph over the Eagles.
“I think we did a really good job of not giving them points with miscues,” longtime Cadet coach Janice Bruner said.
“We like to swing hard, and sometimes the ball goes all over the place. Tonight, we did a really good job controlling our shots. We had some really good back row play with digs, and obviously, we have Brynn.”
Rodriguez flexed up almost immediately when she sent back an Eagle attack for the game’s second point. That was only a preview of what was to come, as the 6’ middle scored three more times, including a service ace to push the Cadets up 9-4.
A pair of Myah Higgins kills and two more by Halle Jones bumped it to 13-6. North Central attempted to get back into the first set when Mallory Groves and Emyrson Hollstein went back-to-back for points, but Rodriguez buried a quick set, and Kennedy Bailey scored twice to fuel an 8-0 run to make it 21-8.
Bailey’s second ball kill and two shots from Rodriguez, along with an ace, finished off the first set.
“We practice a lot with our serving and serve receive so we can be in a position to attack, and I think we did really well with that to set us up in the first set with our offense,” said Bruner of the Cadets’ ability to score quickly in the opening set.
Maycee Walker’s pair of aces to start the second gave North Central (10-12) an early lead, but that was short-lived.
Hayden JoHantgen aced the Eagles, then Rodriguez fired off wood-splitting bullets like she was a human AK-47, sticking four kills and boosting the Cadets on top 10-4.
Kelsey Connolly hit one from the right side to get the Cadet lead to 12-5, but North Central chipped away.
Kenzie Hickman’s kill brought the Eagles back to a 13-9 deficit, but again, Rodriguez took over. Five times Rodriguez hammered winners, including a laser beam from the middle, then ended the set with an ace.
North Central took advantage of some Cadet hitting errors, along with kills from Groves and Cailyn Meyers, to grab an 8-4 lead in the third.
Rodriguez’s three straight shots, capped by a first-ball bomb, brought Hilltop even at 13-13. Meyers went twice from the left to put the Eagles ahead 17-15, but Connolly tied it from the right side, then Jones gave the advantage back to Hilltop from the left at 18-17.
Groves kept the set even at 23-23 with a shot from the left. Higgins regained a Cadet lead on the next point, but Rodriguez made probably her only miscue of the night when she tried to punch over the Eagle defense, and the attack went long to re-knot the set 24-24.
Rodriguez made good on her next try as, seemingly in anger from her last attempt, she came with her best, an earth-shattering blast that put Hilltop up, then added an emphatic block to end the match.
“She has led us most of the year,” Bruner expressed of Rodriguez. “We do go to other girls to hit for us, but she has been our go-to when we need a big shot.”
Hilltop advances to the Division VII District at Archbold on Monday to face Pettisville.