John Bohnenkamp for Pen City Current Sports
FORT MADISON - It sounds strange to say it, given the fact that Holy Trinity has made so many state tournament trips in its volleyball history.
But the Crusaders’ journey to the Class 1A state semifinals was important for so many players who hadn’t been to the tournament before.
The Crusaders missed going in 2020, and last season most of the players in the rotation hadn’t had a chance to play in the tournament.
“Those kids hadn’t been there,” said Holy Trinity coach Melissa Freesmeier. “We had a couple of players who had played there (in 2019). The rest of them were pretty green. So it was kind of nice to get their feet wet. It was good for them to see the court was the same size, they just had to breathe a little bit.”
The Crusaders are favored to make it back to the tournament, which moves to Coralville this season after a lengthy run in Cedar Rapids. They’re ranked No. 1 in Class 1A as they prepare for this weekend’s season opener at the Bondurant-Farrar Tournament.
Holy Trinity brings most of last season’s team that went 33-11 back.
The Crusaders, though, will be without junior Natalie Randolph, who is out with a knee injury suffered in practice. Randolph had 266 kills and 428 assists last season in Holy Trinity’s 6-2 offense, production that will have to be made up somewhere.
Still, Holy Trinity’s roster is deep with talent.
Junior Mary Kate Bendlage and senior Brooke Mueller anchor the outside hitting attack. Bendlage had 244 kills and Mueller had 199 last season.
“They feed off each other,” Freesmeier said. “They’re a different type of player, which is nice to see. Brooke’s got the finesse, and MK’s got the shot. That will be fun to see how they develop as the year progresses.”
Senior Kayla Box, who anchored the middle last season and led the team with 63 blocks, returns. She’ll be joined in the middle by junior Reagan Holvoet and freshman Presley Meyers, a 6-foot freshman transfer from New London.
Taegan Denning will be on the right side, and Teagan Snaadt, Laura Mehmert, Jenna Hellman and Alexa Dingman are candidates for the back-row defensive specialist spots.
“We have a lot of options there, which is good,” Freesmeier said.
Sophomore Anna Bendlage will take one of the setter spots, with Randolph’s spot to be determined.
“We want to run fast,” Freesmeier said. “But to run fast, we have to serve-receive well. We’ve got great servers, we’ve got great setters. We’ve got great passers, but can we get the setters the ball so we can run quick?”
The Crusaders will face a deep SEI Superconference South Division that includes No. 8 (Class 1A) Notre Dame, the defending state champion, and No. 4 (Class 2A) West Burlington.
It’s a schedule that will once again challenge the Crusaders.
“Our conference is going to be tough,” Freesmeier said. “There’s nobody in there you can take for granted. It’s great.
“I think it gives our kids confidence that we can play with the big guns. That’s only going to make us better.”
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