STATE 5A VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT: Proof is in the results

Despite losing its top player to injury early in the season, Coeur d’Alene still has sights set on state volleyball title

They had lost a couple of hard-fought matches at state to Idaho Falls last year, including one in the state championship match.

But the Coeur d’Alene High volleyball team knew it had everyone back — EVERYONE — and with state being in the Vikings’ own backyard this year, rather than in Idaho Falls, things would be different.

“It (losing) was definitely disappointing, but I felt our team this year was going to be stronger,” Coeur d’Alene senior outside hitter Missy Huddleston said. “We were going to be together longer.”

If only they would know how much things would be different.

On Sept. 1, in Coeur d’Alene’s third match of the season, senior Megan Ramseyer, a returning all-state tournament player and a University of Idaho commit, suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season.

Then, less than two weeks later, Huddleston went down with a sprained ankle, and was out for two weeks.

Suddenly, this dream season for the Vikings was becoming somewhat of a nightmare.

“Megan doing down at the end of Game 1 of a match, they didn’t have much time to process and adjust,” Coeur d’Alene coach Dee Pottenger said. “They were forced to make adjustments immediately, and I was proud that we were able to come back and beat Post Falls.

“We were still a good, strong team; we were able to play well, and the team we had could still be a good team. The bigger challenge was when Missy was out.”

But without Ramseyer for the rest of the season — and without Huddleston for a couple of weeks — the other Vikings stepped up their play, and Coeur d’Alene (20-4) remains a contender when the state 5A volleyball tournament unfolds Friday and Saturday at Post Falls High.

“I think at first we kinda lost our confidence — ‘Well, there goes state,” Huddleston said. “But once it settled, (it was like) ‘there still needs to be a job done. We need to get it done, even though we are one down.’”

Ramseyer, a setter/outside hitter, was hitting outside when she landed on her left leg, and heard a pop in her knee.

“I thought I tore my ACL,” she said she thought at the time.

An MRI a few days later confirmed the bad news.

“That’s what I was most disappointed about when it happened — that I can’t play the rest of the year, and feel what it’s like to win a state championship with everyone,” Ramseyer said. “That was my biggest disappointment, because that was our whole team’s goal for the year.”

Coeur d’Alene lost the game in which Ramseyer was injured 25-23, but came back without her to win 25-16, 25-17, 25-19 in their 5A Inland Empire League opener to improve to 2-1 on the season.

“It was like an awakening for us — this season’s not going to be given to us,” junior setter/outside hitter Ali Williams said.

Ramseyer had surgery six weeks ago, and goes to physical therapy three times a week.

“The headline (in the paper) said, ‘Ramseyer injured; Coeur d’Alene’s probably going to lose now,’” Huddleston said.

The headline didn’t actually say that, but she said that was the vibe she was getting.

“Right when I saw her not being able to get up, that was a moment in our season where it was like, ‘Everyone needs to work 10 times harder than they have all year.’”

The Vikings started the season with Ramseyer and Williams splitting setting duties, with Ramseyer hitting outside half the rotations, and Williams hitting right side when she wasn’t setting.

After Ramseyer was injured, Williams set a 5-1 offense. At the Lakeland Invitational on Sept. 12, the Vikings experimented with a 6-2 offense, with junior Isabella Hollibaugh as the other setter — a position she last played as a freshman. When Huddleston was hurt, the Vikings made the switch permanent, as without Ramseyer and now, without Huddleston for a short time, they especially needed Williams’ offense on the outside.

“I just thought she (Ramseyer) was going to be out for two weeks, so we just need to work hard until Megan comes back,” Hollibaugh said. “For a while we were just running a 5-1, and then Missy got injured for part of the season, so we lost another big offensive player, so we needed another big hitter, and Dee was like, ‘You’re going to set now. So I became a setter.’”

“Isabella surprised some people with her ability to take on that setting role,” Pottenger said. “She’s done a great job with her set choice, and just her demeanor on the court, taking on that leadership role. She’s a real steady athlete that doesn’t get rattled, and that was exactly what this team needed.”

Others stepped up as well, the players said, including libero Maura Donovan, defensive specialist Darby Lyon, middle blocker Delaney Schmidt, and middle blocker Sydney Bybee. The lone newcomer, freshman middle blocker Kelly Horning, has also helped.

But especially Bybee.

“She’s in some rotations without either Ali or Missy up front, and we’ve given her more sets, more kill attempts,” Pottenger said. “She has a high hitting percentage (over .300). Last year, she had 24 blocks for points all season. And this year, she already has 57 blocks for points.”

This season, with a year of state experience under their belts, and presumably with the same home-crowd advantage that Idaho Falls enjoyed last year in its town, the Vikings are confident they can bring home the program’s first state title since 1987 — even without their top player.

Ramseyer and Huddleston were both on crutches and watched from the sidelines as the Vikings lost at Lake City on Sept. 17. Coeur d’Alene has lost just twice since.

“During that four-match stretch that we didn’t have Missy, we were having to prove to ourselves that we could have a successful season,” Pottenger said.

A tie for the league title, followed by a regional title won on their rivals’ home court, seems to be pretty good proof.