A growth that stings: Cedarville crushes Thomas More to Homecoming crowd in three-set game

By Danielle Cherry 

Homecoming weekend brought in a raucous crowd to Cedarville gymnasium. With stands packed with alumni and fans, Cedarville dismantled Thomas More in a speedy match to three sets, winning 25-14, 25-14, 25-10. 

With the public recognition of Alivia Rutt’s 1000 career digs at the beginning of the match, the home court energy was alive with excitement. As the team entered the court, there were smiles all around, ready to defeat Thomas More once again. 

Having beaten Thomas More up in Kentucky, the expectation was the same for tonight’s match. Instead of allowing the winning mentality to get to them, Cedarville was calm and stable in their gameplay, communicating through missed passes and sets. 

“From start to finish I didn’t feel like we had a letdown,” head coach Greg Smith said. 

Relentless is a good word to describe Cedarville’s play—pounding the ball, sending the Saints libero out of control as she swung to get up a rocket ball shooting her way. Madelyn Helsey was at the sending end of those balls with 13 total attacks throughout the match—Hensley and her killer arm were back. 

With pressure from the outside because of Hensley, the Saints attempted to tip the ball over, but the Jackets backrow was already waiting for the ball to drop. Anticipating the dumps, Megan Johnson and Rutt were underneath the ball before the crowd even had time to react.  

With swinging being on point, Thomas More was faced with little ease as they squirmed their way to get into upper reaching points. But with a .012 hitting percentage, Cedarville’s .431 percentage was impossible to catch up to, leaving the Saints in the dust from set one.

Coming into the second set, Thomas More put up a good fight, with rallies lasting as Rutt and then Johnson and even Bekah Williams flew from the back row to save a falling ball. The opening point showed the commitment of both teams to keep the ball in play, with the Jackets coming out with that first set point from Hensley’s killing ball to finish the rally. 

Cedarville, while sweeping the floor with the Saints in both their home and away matches, improved from their time in Kentucky. With the gap being only 3 points on the Saints’ court, Cedarville expanded that gap to 11, never letting Thomas More see point 15 the entire match. 

“I felt like we didn’t have the ups and downs that we could have had,” Smith said. 

Even when Cedarville was up, there was no dip in the intensity of play. The front row was particularly on point, with blocks that were impenetrable to hit around, with Carly Craighead and Sienna Hanson sprinting to put up an impressive 24 block assists. 

“Our timing on our block was so much better,” Smith said. “[Thomas More] runs similar systems as far as tempo. That was something we worked on in our two practices.” 

Coming out with 15 total blocks this match, it was clear Cedarville was on point when it came to defending their court. There was barely a Saint ball that went over that wasn’t touched by a block, and that is a testament to the Lady Jackets’ commitment to maximizing their practice.  

The loss against the University of Indianapolis on Wednesday was disheartening, and the mentality to win was lacking. The team that played Homecoming weekend could not have been more different from the team that walked off the court on Wednesday. 

With aces, kills, blocks and digs, there was nothing that was stopping Cedarville’s pace. Even a funky timeout after the first rally of set two didn’t slow the Jackets down. Finishing the game in just one hour’s time, Cedarville used the loss against the University of Indianapolis to grow. 

“Every time we go out, we are just getting a little bit more comfortable with each other. We still have such a young team on the floor,” Smith said. 

From the beginning of the season till now, the Jackets have faced nationally ranked teams and held their own, now being 7-8 overall and 5-2 in Conference play. Despite dips in mental concentration, the Jackets have always put up relentless energy when it comes to pursuing balls. This gave them the edge over Thomas More, whose coach sat down halfway through the match, seeing the loss before the scoreboard. 

As consistency increases, the team is able to play with an intensity that is drastic from their starting matches. The skill is there, the timing is there, and now the Jackets have shown that the mentality is also there. 

With a double header next weekend against Ohio Dominican and Ashland, Coach Smith hopes Homecoming weekend will be a springboard headed into the next. With Ohio Dominican already taking a win from Cedarville, the Jackets want to change that narrative—pushing to finish each game the way they start, with intensity and mental resilience.

Danielle Cherry is a junior communication major and is Assistant editor for A&E and passionate writer for Sports. She is a Missionary Kid from Germany and believes this is the shortest game of volleyball she has ever had the pleasure of watching—simply lovely.