Kaitlyn Kimmet (left) celebrates with Addyson Bellman after Ottawa-Glandorf clinched a Regional title against Willard on Saturday at the Elida Fieldhouse.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
ELIDA — For a head coach at Ottawa-Glandorf, it’s almost become a rite of passage to take a team to the State tournament.
After the Titans defeated Willard in three sets on Saturday in the Division V Regional Final, Maddie Hauenstein accomplished that goal in her first season.
“I’m speechless, just overwhelmed with joy,” Hauenstein said of the achievement. “It’s really about the girls. They’ve welcomed me with open arms and the talent they have is what allowed us to be where we’re at right now. These girls have overcome a lot this year and I’m just so proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
It’ll be the first trip to the state volleyball tournament for Ottawa-Glandorf, who’ll face Bishop Fenwick at the Nutter Center in Dayton on Thursday at 4 p.m.
“It’s so exciting to do something we’ve never done before,” senior middle hitter Kaitlyn Kimmet said. “We’ve worked hard all year. Just seeing our girls go out there with coach pushing us through the season to see this reward, it’s really exciting.”
On Saturday afternoon at the Elida Fieldhouse, the Titans dominated the first set with a 25-15 victory, then gutted out the final two, 25-23 and 25-19, overcoming a 6-0 run in the middle of the second set, which gave Willard a four-point lead in the process.
After a timeout, O-G battled back to tie the score at 22, then put the set away on a tip from Kaitlyn Kimmet, an ace from Greta Liebrecht and a kill from Kimmet at the 25th point.
“We just really had to focus on our first contact,” Hauenstein said. “When our serve-receive goes away, we struggle. In our timeout, we talked a lot about first contact and sharpening things up. I feel like that’s what helped us the most.”
The dominance of Kimmet, Madison McKee, Sienna Fry and Ella White, among others at the net, disrupted Willard’s hitters all afternoon.
“We’re really blessed to be so diverse in the front row,” Hauenstein said. “At the beginning of the year, we started very one-dimensional and as the year has gone on, we’ve been able to put people in different places and they’ve found more success. They’re a young group so they’re learning so much and growing.”
With the win, Ottawa-Glandorf improved to 20-7. They head to Dayton next week riding a nine-game winning streak with just four set losses since Oct. 1.
For Hauenstein and Kimmet, it was a goal that both realized was possible to reach after a regular season win over St. Henry back on Sept. 28.
“When we beat them, I thought to myself, wow, we can do some special things this year.,” Hauenstein said.
“They were a very good team and when we realized we could beat good teams, I think that’s really what set us apart,” Kimmet said.
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter/X at @Lima_Howell
