Buchanan earns Senior Night win over Edwardsburg

Published 10:35 am Tuesday, October 1, 2024

By Max Harden

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BUCHANAN — The Buchanan volleyball team made sure to make the most of its Senior Night.

The Bucks defeated Edwardsburg 25-17,17-25,25-14,25-15 Monday in non-conference action to improve to 20-2 on the season. 

“What an exciting Senior Night,” said Buchanan Coach Shelly Bender. “We want to play big games in big district atmospheres and what better team to play than Edwardsburg. I thought we came out with a lot of energy – when you have a lot of adrenaline and then it dies and you just have to regroup and just play your game and I thought our kids really did a good job maintaining their energy the whole time. I know there’s highs and lows through every game, but I felt like when we had lows, we were able to bounce back.”

The Eddies (7-14) rebounded from a set one setback to take set two but not before starting setter Rylie Rosenkranz left the game after injuring her leg. Led by the hitting of Alyssa Carson and Chloe Aalfs, the Bucks were able to regroup and finish strong.

“We had a little bit of adversity when their player came under and twisted my setter,” claimed Edwardsburg Head Coach Sarah Strefling. “I thought they battled fine for having what they had with a different setter. It’s frustrating.”

Aalfs had 16 kills and 17 digs and Carson had 15 kills while Emily Holt had 14 digs and Sophia Bachman tallied eight digs and 41 assists. Aalfs, Carson, Bachman, Addy Warmbein, Isabella Tibbles and Italian exchange student Alice Giulianini make up the Bucks’ six-member senior class, which has achieved three-straight undefeated conference championships and counting, back-to-back district championships and an overall record of 118-21.

“This group of seniors are just really awesome kids in general. They’re great people,” Bender said. “They’ve been really successful, they are competitive and they like to win and that really sets the fire and the tone for everybody else to play at their level. They hold each other accountable and I feel like this year, if they don’t like something, they put it right back on the underclassmen saying ‘hey, we gotta get going’ because this is not acceptable for us.’”

For Edwardsburg, Mya Eberlein had five kills and five blocks, Sarah Pippin 12 kills, 12 digs and one ace. Ella Laskowski tallied 12 kills, 10 digs and four blocks and Rylie Rosenkrantz had 13 assists while Olive Walk added 14 assists and six digs.

“We are just trying to get better,” Strefling said. “We’ve got a young group who are new to positions, new in spots even more so tonight. We play a really competitive schedule and so we were hoping to show up a little bit better tonight but it hurt us after Riley went down. I’m glad we still won the second one but I think it would have been a different outcome if we didn’t have that change. Olive Walk stepped in and did a good job for us, but we couldn’t pull out the win.”

Bender was proud of her team’s performance in a playoff-like atmosphere against an Edwardsburg team that has played against several Division 1 teams.

“I feel like this game right here is what I’ve been waiting for all season,” Bender said. “They played a lot of really good tournaments and with a lot of division one schools, so how are we gonna compare playing somebody who has played a little bit higher level than us? We always love playing Edwardsburg because they’re always very competitive.”

Both teams are aiming for strong finishes to the season as they prepare to make postseason runs.

“It really is a true test of where we need to go and what we need to improve on,” Bender said. “For us, our biggest thing is to stay consistent and sustain mentally in the games. The kids did that in a really big atmosphere tonight so that was really key for me that they could finish and finish on a strong note.”

“Our goal is to finish strong in the conference, get better every day and be able to perform when it really matters,” Strefling said.

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