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St. Henry's Mylee Kremer pushes the ball over the net during Tuesday's Mercer County volleyball matchup with Celina at Redskin Gymnasium.
ST. HENRY - After finishing third at last weekend's Cavalier Spike-Off, St. Henry survived a third set rally by Celina to defeat the Bulldogs in a 25-14, 25-11, 25-21 sweep on Tuesday in the home opener at Redskin Gymnasium.
The win moves St. Henry to 3-1 on the year, with now two wins in a row in the early stages of the season.
Set one was dominated by the Redskins. Celina fell behind early after a strong start from St. Henry. The Bulldogs were able to make it close, but a 25-14 score meant the home team had the advantage going into the second set.
Celina's Lilly Shreffler (10) and Sidney Jenkins (7) go up to block the spike of St. Henry's Karlee Baumer.
The second set started strong for St. Henry, winning seven of the first 10 points of the set. Junior middle hitter Renee Wendel had a pair of aces during the run. The Redskins then won another run and pushed it to 14-6. Molly Wendel collected three kills during the stretch to give the Redskins some breathing room.
With the lead at eight points already, St. Henry cruised to the win the second set, highlighted by three more kills by Wendel and a block to take a 2-0 lead into the third set.
The Bulldogs' backs were against the wall in the third set, and things looked bleak for Celina with the score at 19-12 late. The visitors then won eight of the next 10 to bring it to 21-20 in favor of the Redskins. A timeout settled down the home team, and they rode that to the end and pulled out a 25-21 win in the third set.
"In the beginning I was like, we're playing pretty consistently," St. Henry coach Tricia Rosenbeck said. "Then at the end we went on that eight points run of just us making errors. (Celina) got more aggressive and got some momentum going."
Wendel finished the match with 11 kills, which was a team high. Karlee Buschur had 10, with Karlee Baumer and Kylie Bollenbacher having nine each. Olivia Gast was tied for the team lead with three aces.
St. Henry's Kylie Bollenbacher tries to tip the ball over Celina defenders during Tuesday's match at Redskin Gymnasium.
On the other side of the court, Celina falls to 0-1 on the year. The Bulldogs were led by Haley Kizer's 17 assists and nine digs. Ella Shelby recorded six kills and Sidney Jenkins and Olivia Uhlenhake both had five kills. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs are optimistic about their future this season.
"I saw a team that was refusing to give up, that wanted to be competitive," Celina coach Amy Sutter said. "We did a lot of things right tonight, but St. Henry is just a really strong, well-balanced team."
St. Henry faces Ottawa-Glandorf next Tuesday, a rematch from the Cavalier Spike-Off third-place match, a 2-1 Redskin win. Celina will look to get their first win of the season Thursday as the Bulldogs open Western Buckeye League play at home with Wapakoneta.
