Fight to the bitter end

AFTON — Coaching a program at one school for 20 years doesn’t make accepting a loss, and the end of a season, any easier.

East Union volleyball coach Gail Thatcher wiped away tears following Thursday’s regional semifinal loss to Grand View Christian.

The Thunder disposed of the Eagles in three sets, but not before East Union put things together in the final set and had the start of a comeback within its grasp.

The 28-26 final set loss came after losses of 25-16 and 25-13.

It was the topic of lone senior Mara Weis that made Thatcher emotional again.

“Mara’s had great leadership this season,” Thatcher said. “She’s set it up and been out there on the floor picking people up. When freshman Quinn Eslinger came in to serve for Megan (Mitchell), she was the first one there to greet her and say ‘you can do this and keep pushing.’”

Weis was the lone senior on the squad, and she went out in a leading role.

The last set in particular had the gym at a fever pitch.

“Even... when we got down, I told them if you get down two sets you gotta come back and you gotta play tough and you never give up,” Thatcher said. “I said ‘we’ve been in this situation before, let’s fulfill it.’ And the girls really did and the girls looked at me and said ‘we can do this.’And I really felt we could. They came out and controlled that game and really played aggressively and that’s what we needed.”

East Union held a 21-17 lead late in the set before a Cara Arrasmith kill put some life back into the Thunder. The two squads traded points, and then Grand View Christian put together a quick 3-0 run to tie things 23-23.

East Union went up 24-23 when Alissa Weinkoetz smashed the ball off of two blockers.

On a long rally during the next point, with the gym rocking, Weinkoetz set the ball and was called for a double hit to tie it back up at 24-24. It was one of multiple double hit calls throughout the night that the East Union coaching staff was visibly unhappy with.

East Union couldn’t whether the storm after that and finally fell a few tense minutes later after trading a few more points.

The Eagles put up a fight, but don’t get to see their state dreams realized.

Weis and Weinkoetz totalled five kills each. Weis and Eckels both went 10-of-10 and served in critical junctures throughout the match. Weis was second on the team in digs with 11, while Megan Mitchell had 12.

“We have a lot of talented girls sitting on the bench that should be commended that didn’t see the court tonight because they pushed these girls to be better all season long,” Thatcher said.

Specifically she spoke of Olivia Cheers and Eslinger coming in and serving a combined 8-8 under pressure.

Performances like that and a foundation based around youth leave Thatcher plenty of reason to be excited about the future.

“I feel like we made a big turnaround from the middle of the season,” Thatcher said. “We really stepped up and started to click. We started figuring out what people could do and trusting each other. When you’re younger, you know you can’t always rely on those girls putting the ball in but as they grow and they realize what can happen, they figure the game out and start working together.”

Grand View Christian controlled things early as the Thunder followed their consistent formula of mounting an effective attack and getting Arrasmith involved in the action. She finished with 13 kills. Arrasmith’s kill efficiency sat at .445 for the evening. Ashlan Thompson, who came into the match 23rd in the state, regardless of class, in assists with 825, recorded 30 Thursday.

Grand View will get to play Audubon in the regional final in Perry Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

The year ends at 16-17 for East Union.

“I’m proud of these girls,’ Thatcher said. “I don’t think our record reflects how hard and what games we were in this year. We play in a tough conference and we fought all the time. I’m looking forward to next year.”