John Bohnenkamp for Pen City Current Sports
FORT MADISON - September lessons have always been valuable for Holy Trinity’s volleyball team.
The education is better for the Crusaders when they come away with a win.
The 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 25-8, 15-9 victory over Notre Dame on Tuesday night was a matter of endurance for the No. 4 (Class 1A) Crusaders.
“The intensity kept us going, so it didn’t feel like we had been playing five sets,” said junior Anna Bendlage.
It was, Holy Trinity coach Melissa Freesmeier said, a typical night in the hothouse that is the SEI Superconference South Division.
“I’m proud of our kids for staying in it,” Freesmeier said. “People think this conference is easy. You know, it’s not. It’s a fight every night.”
The Crusaders had to fight when pressed by the Nikes in this latest chapter of an intense rivalry.
“Winning a big rival game like this is pretty awesome,” junior libero Teagan Snaadt said.
The second and third sets could have shaken the Crusaders.
“They didn’t falter,” Freesmeier said. “A year ago, we might have. Our kids kept it together tonight.”
The final two sets were a master class for the Crusaders on how important it is to maintain their offensive flow.
“I think we just came out more level-headed, and decided to play our game on our side of the court,” Snaadt said. “We just played our game. I think our energy didn’t stay consistent. We needed to take that energy and make it even throughout the game.”
The Nikes had exploited openings in Holy Trinity’s defense in the second and third sets. A tighter defense led to a crisp offense for the Crusaders in the final two sets.
“We knew coming in that Notre Dame was coming in here with all cylinders firing,” Freesmeier said. “We started eliminating mistakes and really got flowing with our offense. We just kept going at it.
“They came after us. We had to adjust a few things. We made a lot of mistakes to give them opportunities, and you just don’t give good teams opportunities like that.”
Holy Trinity scored 12 consecutive points in the fourth set behind senior Natalie Randolph, who had four kills in the run. After the Nikes broke the scoring stretch by getting a point and the serve back, Randolph came up with another kill and then provided a scare that shook the Crusaders.
Randolph, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, limped to the service line, wiping away a tear after she adjusted her knee brace. The Crusaders scored off her serve, but it was clear something was wrong.
Freesmeier replaced Randolph with Jenna Hellman, and Randolph hobbled to the locker room to be checked out.
“I got the look when I took her out,” Freesmeier said, noting that Randolph didn’t want to leave the court. “But I wanted to make sure she was OK, so we had her get checked out by the trainer.”
The Crusaders finished off the set, and when they returned to the court for the final set, Randolph joined them on the court.
“It scared me a little bit, because she’s a big part of the team,” Bendlage said. “It was big (getting her back). She’s such a huge part of our team — without her, there’s a hole out there.”
Randolph played the entire fifth set, and after the match she said she was “OK.”
“She tweaked that knee,” Freesmeier said. “Her injury is more important, she’s more important, than the game. We’ll get her home, get her in the ice bath, and see how she feels.”
Holy Trinity jumped to an 8-1 lead in the fifth set. Presley Myers accounted for three points in the middle, and Taegan Denning had two service aces in that run. Notre Dame fought back to get within 11-7, but Holy Trinity freshman Adalyn Kruse had a kill to end the momentum. The Crusaders then finished off the win.
“How about that freshman?” Freesmeier said. “She was great at the service line, had some big kills for us. We establish our middles, and then we can do a lot of things.”
The Crusaders are off until next Tuesday’s home match against Mediapolis.
“It doesn’t get any easier in this conference,” Freesmeier said. “But we kept it together tonight. And this is a big win.”
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