Crusaders go 3-3 at Bondurant-Farrar

Heavy Competition

When you face a Wapsie Valley or a North Tama, you know those are top five programs and then to go up against Indianola, which is No. 2 in 4A, that was amazing and fun. We had some really good rallies against them and we played hard.”

Melissa Freesmeier, HTC Head Coach

BONDURANT – The 2^nd-ranked Holy Trinity Crusaders opened the fall season at the talent-rich Bondurant-Farrar Invitational Saturday.
The girls took 4^th place after a 3-3 showing on the day and going undefeated through pool play.
In the first round, the Lady Crusaders knocked off host Bondurant-Farrar with a 15-13 tiebreaker after dropping the first set 20-22 and then winning the second set 21-18 to force the tiebreaker play.
Holy Trinity then blew past Ames 21-6, 21-10 and Fort Madison 21-10, 21-8 to win their pool. In championship play, the Crusaders fell to Class 2A No. 12 Wapsie Valley 21-17, 21-16, Class 1A No. 15 North Tama 21-17, 21-18, and Class 4A No. 2 Indianola 21-10, 21-15.
Mary Kate Bendlage and Presley Myers led the offensive attack for HTC with 29 kills each on the day. Bendlage was 79-97 attacking while Myers went 54-61.
Natalie Randolph, returning from missing last season, recording 21 kills and was 65-83 at the net. She also had 33 assists and 33 digs to go with five blocks.
Myers led the Crusaders with 11 blocks.
Anna Bendlage led in assists with 43 and went 33 of 33 serving. Myers was 41-43 serving with nine aces. Adalyn Kruse was 50-50 serving with six aces.
Head Coach Melissa Freesmeier said the competition is always firm and fun to start the year and the girls responded well.
“I thought our kids did a great job of responding to the competition up there. In the gold we went 0-3, but we grew so much in that time. For Natalie to play in all six matches was awesome for her and our team,” Freesmeier said.
“When you face a Wapsie Valley or a North Tama, you know those are top five programs and then to go up against Indianola, which is No. 2 in 4A, that was amazing and fun. We had some really good rallies against them and we played hard.”
Freesmeier said the team as a whole is again developing chemistry early in the season.
“We have expectations of that and we’re gonna keep building."
The girls will face another perennial stiff opponent Thursday when they travel to New London to take on the Class 1A No. 8 Tigers. Prior to that, they will travel to Wapello Tuesday night for a tournament starting at 5 p.m.