MONROE — On paper, a 3-0 loss to Turner in its Rock Valley Conference opener on Thursday, Aug. 31 may not be the outcome Monroe had hoped for. With competitive scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-21, head coach Cassie Wittman was excited to see her team’s hard work in practice begin to pay off.
“This week they’ve also worked really hard to push each other and bring intensity. We’ve been preaching to them that how we practice is how we are going to play,” Wittman said. “We saw that tonight on the court, and that’s what we are most happy about. The other things can improve after that. I’m very happy and proud of them.”
After dropping the first two points in set one, the Cheesemakers responded with a Sophie Golembiewski kill and Courtney Hartwig service ace. Turner and Monroe exchanged points back and forth, tying the game up another six times before the Cheesemakers went on a seven-point run.
With Hartwig at the service line, Monroe kept Turner on its toes, forcing hitting errors. On a Trojan overpass, Olivia Feller spiked the ball to the floor, and Hartwig kept dealing aces. In fact, out of Turner’s first timeout — with a 14-10 Cheesemaker lead — Hartwig tallied her third ace of the rally.
Just as quickly as momentum favored Monroe, it flipped in favor of Turner. After a Spartan free ball that found the floor, Maddox Carl stepped up to the service line for a five-point run. She recorded back-to-back aces followed by a Lane Sherrod kill, forcing Wittman to call Monroe’s first timeout.
Turner won the first point out of the break to tie the set at 16, and the two teams exchanged points once again. Ella Kranig’s kill knotted the game at 20, but a Cheesemaker service error gave the Spartans a lead they didn’t relinquish.
Despite Wittman using her second timeout to stall Turner’s momentum, the Spartans’ next serve clipped the net and fell short of Monroe’s front row. Turner took the first set 25-22 after being tied 13 times with four lead changes.
The loss shook Monroe, as the team quickly went down 8-3 on mental and communication errors. After a timeout, the Cheesemakers gathered themselves with a three-point rally. Sophomore Mya Wild knocked down a kill, followed by a block and Turner error.
A four-point Cheesemaker rally reduced the Spartans’ lead to just one point at 12-11. Golembiewski had a solo block and teammate Hartwig assisted in another block kill.
“This group of kids is excellent in the fact that we are past the basic skill mark. We are through the nitty gritty, and we can do more fun, dynamic things with volleyball,” Wittman said of working on blocks in practice. “That’s made the game way more fun for them, and I think they are enjoying that aspect of it. They can see what happens in a game and how the momentum can change.”
Although the block kills lifted Monroe’s spirits, Cheesemaker errors and Spartan aces padded Turner’s lead back up to six points at 21-15. Monroe benefitted from Turner service errors, but gave those points back on service errors of its own. In fact, Turner won set two on a Cheesemaker error at the line.
“A lot of it is confidence,” Wittman said. “The first game of the season on your home court, it’s going to be nerve wracking for these kids coming in. We’d only seen Turner one time as a new team last year — it’s a lot of newness.”
Down to their last chance, the Cheesemakers came out of the pause between sets with renewed energy. Sparked by a pair of Addison Bartholf aces, Monroe jumped out to an early 5-1 lead.
“It’s all a mindset — to lock in really fast,” Hartwig said. “We had to connect with each other and play as a team.”
The lead was short-lived, though, as Turner used four- and five-point rallies to take an 11-7 lead. Wittman took her first timeout after three serve receives that went out of bounds with no chance for the setter to get to. The Cheesemakers worked their way back into the set with kills from Golembiewski, Hartwig and Wild. Following another block, Feller served up two aces to tie the game at 20.
Turner head coach Kasey Quinn used her first timeout since the first set, which proved beneficial for the Spartans. Quinn’s team won five of the final six points to take the set 25-21 and match 3-0.
Golembiewski, Laurel Sheaffer and Wild finished with four kills each, followed by Chloe Fry, Hartwig and Feller with three. At the service line, Hartwig tallied five aces. Feller and Bartholf added two apiece.
Despite the loss, Monroe showed improvement from its home tournament last Saturday. The Cheesemakers dropped all five matches, winning just one set. Hartwig credits the team’s growth to chemistry.
“Our chemistry is improving,” she said. “We are learning how we work with each other and how we don’t work with each other. We are constantly working hard to improve that so we can come back even stronger next week.”
