Girls volleyball: Medina Christian fights, falls but still has fun

RITTMAN — Despite losing for the first time this season, the Medina Christian volleyball team showed plenty of fight and had moments of fun Thursday night in a 23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-17 non-league defeat to Rittman. The Knights (2-1) fell behind early in each set but never gave up, continuing to battle until the final point had been played. That was something second-year coach Adam Vigneault wanted to see. "We've been really focusing on that this season," he said. "Even if we make a mistake, we come together, we pick each other up. The love of the team we talk about, we're a chain, and all of us are a part of that chain and together, we're unbreakable." It was a point of emphasis after showing his team a replay of the 2023 NCAA Division I national championship match between Texas and Nebraska. "We watched the national championship, and I just really showed them that these collegiate athletes not much older than you are playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people," Vigneault said. "They hit one out of bounds, and the very next time they're cheering about it and saying, 'I got you,' and their team's picking them up, and they come back and they rip the very next one. That's that next-play mentality and never giving up on something, and you're never out of it." The players have bought in and have become more than just a group of teammates. "We're more like a family almost, and that definitely helps us overcome any challenges," said junior Ava Abramczyk, who had seven assists and three aces. "Just resorting back to the fact that we're all more than teammates coming together after every play definitely helps that, and we've been repping that, and it's encouraging each other, like next-ball mentality and all that." Medina Christian took an early 1-0 lead by winning a back-and-forth set but couldn't finish in the last three sets despite constantly fighting back. The Knights cut the deficit to three points late in the second and two late in the third. "I think that we really kept our attitude up," Abramczyk said. "We had a little dip (in the first set), but we played out of that, and we dug out of that hole that we dug for ourselves, and I just think that it's a very good opportunity for us and hope that we could get better in the future." Freshman Ally Glau led the Knights with eight kills, and she credits playing with the upperclassmen to helping her progress. "I think me as a freshman, playing with juniors and seniors gives me a lot of experience, and I just love a challenge," Glau said. "I love putting Christ in the middle of my gameplay. And I think even when I make a mistake going back to that, it's in the back of my mind, just reset, and that definitely helps me a lot." The leadership from seniors Emma Finan, Julianna Subotnik, Ava Sems, Cora Wolny and Ashley Conwill has been crucial for the continued development of a team that went 7-12 last season. "They've continued to develop and then being able to sprinkle in Ally Glau, who's a freshman, and Hailey Mendrea, who's a freshman, that has really been a game-changer for us," Vigneault said. "To be able to take that senior leadership and upperclassman leadership that we have and the development that they continue to have, and then sprinkle in talent of the young guns has been essential to us." One of those freshmen, Mendrea, had one of the funnier moments when early in the third set she wasn't able to get her hand on the ball so she used her background as a soccer player to kick it over the net. Despite not getting the point, the moment livened the team. "We were in trouble, so I just kicked my foot out," a laughing Mendrea said. "I think it definitely (loosened the team up)." Between the kick and a joke shared by Conwill during a timeout in the second set, the light-hearted nature of his team is something Vigneault has had to adapt to. "That's a stepping-stone that I've had to make in a realization as a coach that they respond to that joke," Vigneault said. "Where in teams past that I've coached, if you let that happen, it just cascades, and you can lose them real quick. But this team is able to take a joke and loosen up and then lock immediately back in." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.