TONTOGANY — Otsego volleyball advanced to the Division II district tournament with a 25-12, 25-22, 25-13 win over Napoleon on the Knights’ home court Thursday.
Napoleon finishes the season winless in 21 games, and even though the young Wildcats have won just five of 108 sets this season, the 18-6 Knights could not look past them.
“We knew that they were from the NLL (Northern Lakes League),” Otsego coach Gabby Smith said. “They did not have any wins but they are playing really good competition and they are competing with them.
“So, we knew we had to come in and compete back. So, we came in, watched a little bit of film, saw what they were doing and executed.”
Otsego is rewarded by advancing to play the winner of Northern Buckeye Conference foe Maumee next Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. in a district semifinal at Swanton High School. The Knights defeated Maumee twice during the regular season, both times in four sets. Maumee (12-12) swept Bryan (5-18), 25-22, 25-10, 25-7 to advance.
In an all-NBC district tournament, The winner of the Otsego-Maumee game plays the winner of the Lake (18-6)-Rossford (9-13) district semifinal for the district championship at 6 p.m. on Thursday for the right to advance to the regional tournament.
“We definitely worked hard for this moment,” Otsego senior outside hitter Emily Genson said. “Going into it, we were ready to play them. We want to make it far.
“We want to get numbers on the board this year, so that was our mindset — that was our goal this year. We knew we have the ability to do so, we just wanted to do it.
“So, execution was here tonight, and everyone showed up. It’s the kind of game where everybody has to be there, and everyone has to play together.”
Napoleon had leads in every set, including 3-2 early in the first set, but the Knights began taking over, closing the 13-point victory on an ace by senior middle blocker Kora Rollins.
The second set, however, was a completely different story. Napoleon coach Danielle Cramer said her players came out with a new attitude after the first set loss.
“Our mentality going into the second set is we get to be here,” Cramer said. “Go out, make plays, and be proud to be on that court right now.”
Napoleon sophomore Baylee Lamming had consecutive kills to put the Wildcats up, 8-3, and behind the serving of sophomore Ava Good, Napoleon still led 20 points later, 18-13.
However, Otsego tied it 19-19 on a kill by Otsego junior middle blocker Samantha Lehr and finished off a 12-4 run, winning the set on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Kayla McCabe.
The Knights also had issues during one set of their 25-9, 25-22, 25-18 opening round tournament win Tuesday over Toledo Central Catholic.
Coach Smith and Genson said it was a matter of regrouping so the Wildcats don’t even the score at one set apiece.
“It kind of happened again the other night,” Genson said. “We call time out and we just have to really regroup and help each other out, pick each other up.”
Smith added, “That’s something we knew that we did not want to happen. So, going into that set we knew that we were struggling on serve-receive, and that was a vital part of our whole entire season was getting better in that area.
“So, we came together, took two timeouts pretty early, and we needed to focus on that.”
Otsego opened an 8-1 lead in the third set on four aces by senior defensive specialist Addysen Limes, took a 17-4 lead on an ace by Genson and cruised to a 12-point win.
Genson led the Knights with 13 kills and 18 digs, seniors Kora Rollins and Addysen Limes served three aces apiece, freshman Molly Kramer had 15 assists and 17 digs and Limes had 14 assists and 15 digs and senior Faith Keifer had 13 digs.
Napoleon was led by junior Maggie Riseborough, who had five kills and 10 digs, junior Hannah Nagel had four kills, and junior Lylah Huddle had 10 digs.
“Maggie and Hannah with their kills, (junior) Makayla (Kruse) getting up getting touches on blocks, helping our defense get kills — we played hard, and these girls should be proud,” Cramer said.
The Wildcats have just one senior and Cramer likes what she saw, especially in the second set, and hopes to build on the successes this year.
“We have a really tough division (NLL Cardinal Division) that we play in every year, and every single game, every set these girls have gone out and they have battled,” Cramer said.
Cramer said her players celebrate every point won, and that is what she wants.
“That’s our goal this season no matter what the score says up on that wall is that we are battling every point and treat it like we won the state championship with every point,” Cramer said. “This game they did — they played it like that.”
