Cannelton had all the momentum going into the fifth set Saturday’s Southern Roads Conference volleyball matchup at Columbus Christian.
The Bulldogs had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take the third and fourth sets, then grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth.
But the Crusaders earned a sideout, and that’s when Hannah Stair took over. The sophomore setter served 14 consecutive points to finish off a 25-17, 25-21, 17-25, 17-25, 15-1 victory.
“I just knew that I had to make the serves because my team was counting on me,” Stair said. “I just do a little silent prayer in my head, ‘Just help me make this over, and do it for your glory.’”
Stair’s first three serves in the deciding run went for aces. Three of the final five points, including match-point, also were aces.
“She had been struggling a little bit serving today,” said her mother, Columbus Christian coach Sarah Stair . “She had missed more serves today than she usually did, and we kind of joked with her that she was saving them all for the fifth set.”
The Crusaders (9-1, 3-0) cruised in the first two sets and jumped out to an early lead in the third set. But then outside hitter Madison Henderson hit her head while diving for a ball and had to leave the game.
Henderson had served Columbus Christian to a 6-0 lead in the second set and a 3-0 lead in the third set.
“Madison is definitely a leader,” Sarah Stair said. “She serves consistently, hits consistently, passes consistently. When one of your consistent players who plays all the way around goes out, it’s a little bit of a problem to try to fill that initially. But people did a really good job of trying to fill a different role.”
In the fourth set, libero Kayla Jones moved to to right-side hitter, and right-side hitter Ellie Ridder moved to outside hitter to replace Henderson.
Cannelton took that fourth set to force the deciding fifth.
“My mom kind of gave us a little pep talk and just said we needed to believe in ourselves and have confidence,” Hannah Stair said. “We were a little out of system because Madison had gotten hurt, but we just knew that we had to have confidence to be able to go out there and kill it.”
Hannah Stair led the Crusaders with 31 assists, two blocks and six aces. Mayah Schundelmier pounded 20 kills, and Michaela Schundelmier had eight digs.
Ridder tallied seven kills and six digs, and Henderson finished with six digs and five aces in a little more than two sets. Lauren Hunnicutt notched nine kills, Jones had five digs and Mayah Schundelmier added one block.
“I think it definitely shook us up that Madison got hurt because she is definitely one of our best players, and we look to her a lot,” Mayah Schundelmeir said. “But I think as we went into that last set, we had calmed down definitely, and we prayed and asked God to help us focus our energy, and then we went out there and just played for him.”
