NON-LEAGUE VOLLEYBALL … Archbold sophomore Miley Gericke makes a play on the ball for the Bluestreaks in their win at Hilltop. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Daniel Cooley
WEST UNITY – (August 31, 2023) – Often times in volleyball, size makes a difference, and size definitely made a difference in this contest.
Archbold came into the match with just a 1-4 record, but the taller Bluestreaks used their size to top Hilltop in four sets, 21-25, 25-21, 25-15 and 25-8.
Archbold, with four hitters at 5-9 or taller, compared to just one Hilltop hitter over 5-9 (Libbie Baker at 6-2), the Lady Bluestreaks blocked 12 Hilltop kill attempts and had three hitters recording 10 or more kills.
Autumn Benecke, a 5-9 sophomore, led Archbold with six blocks and also recorded six kills. By comparison, Hilltop’s Baker registered 12 kills and four blocks and was the only Lady Cadet in double figures in kills.
Setter/outside hitter Eleana VanArsdalen was the only other Hilltop hitter to record more than two kills, getting seven.
“We’re so young and our hitters just needed more reps (in practice and in games) and our hitters played very well tonight,” said Archbold junior outside hitter Keely Culler, who is Archbold’s tallest starter, at 5-11.”
“And my setter (freshman Meg Ames) did a really good job tonight (of getting me the ball where I wanted it).”
Culler paced Archbold (2-4 overall) with 15 kills, while Charlee Forward recorded 13 kills and Lexi Ripke added 10 kills and three blocks.
Hilltop coach Janice Bruner felt that the height advantage was one of the big factors in Archbold’s win.
“We’re not seeing that size in most of our games, so that’s why we play Archbold, to get prepared for teams like that that we will see down the road,” Bruner said.
“But we also didn’t perform the way we needed to. They have bigger kids, so that’s why we have to pass better than we did, to set up our offense.”
“We didn’t do a good job with our platforms, which is adjusting our bodies to (hit) our targets, so that the ball (gets to them) and doesn’t go off our arms and out of bounds.”
“We also needed to make better adjustments to what they were doing (in their hitting and blocking us).”
The initial game was close throughout, with seven ties and neither team leading by more than three points until the very end.
After Archbold’s Benecke registered two straight blocks to cut Hilltop’s lead to 22-21, Baker recorded a kill and served up an ace, to put Hilltop up, 24-21. Hilltop’s Alaina Russell then registered a block, to give Hilltop the game one win, at 25-21.
The turning point in game two, which gave Archbold the lead, was the serving of Culler. With Archbold leading, 5-4, a Culler kill gave Archbold a 6-4 lead.
Culler then successfully served six straight points, as Archbold’s lead built to 12-4. Benecke had two blocks and Forward, two kills during the six-point service run.
Hilltop then made a late run to get back into the game. With Archbold leading, 18-9, Hilltop scored six straight points, thanks in part to a Baker kill and a block and an ace from Brooklyn Kuszmaul.
Archbold then answered back with five straight points on two Hilltop hitting errors, two attempted Hilltop kills that sailed out of bounds and a Ripke block. That brought Archbold’s lead back up to 23-15.
With Archbold leading, 24-17 after a Miley Gericke kill, Hilltop put together one last push.
The Lady Cadets tallied four consecutive points, thanks to two service aces from Brynn Rodriguez, to cut Archbold’s lead to 24-21.
But Culler answered with a kill, to give Archbold the 25-21 win, to even the contest at one game each.
In game three, however, Archbold opened with eight straight points, to take an 8-0 lead. Grace Meyer had two service aces during the run, while Culler recorded four kills.
Archbold then led by as much as 19-5, after a Ripke kill. The closest Hilltop would come was at 24-15, after a Russell block and a VanArsdalen kill. But Forward’s kill gave Archbold a 25-15 win and a 2-1 lead.
Game four was close early, with Archbold holding a 4-3 lead. But the Bluestreaks then took a 7-3 lead after a Forward kill.
With the score at 8-4 Archbold, the Streaks then rattled off seven straight points to take a 15-4 lead. Leading the way in the run were two service aces from Meg Ames and three Forward kills.
With Archbold leading 15-6 after a kill by Hilltop’s Alora Siegel, Archbold finished game four with a 10-2 run.
Meyer had two aces during the run and Ripke finished things off with a block, to give Archbold a 25-8 win in game four, along with a 3-1 win over Hilltop (now 4-1 overall).
“(After a 1-4 start), today was the day we had to turn it around and we can build off this win,” said Archbold coach Debbie Culler.
“Our middles (middle hitters) did a nice job blocking. Our setter Meg Ames did a nice job running the floor and made good decisions.”
Hilltop won the junior varsity game, 20-25, 25-10 and 25-18.
Dan can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com