HERSHEY — Anselmo-Merna is returning to the state volleyball tournament for the first time in 49 years.
Jaide Chandler tallied 16 kills, and Shaylyn Safranek served nine aces and notched eight kills as the No. 8 Coyotes swept No. 9 Garden County 25-23, 25-11, 25-12 in the D2-8 District Final on Saturday in Hershey to make the Class D2 state tournament in Lincoln next week.
“This is really exciting for our school, our girls,” Anselmo-Merna coach Katie Hoblyn said. “Obviously they put in a lot of hard work for this.”
The last time either side of the Custer County co-op reached the state tournament was Merna in 1972. That year, Merna reached the semifinals before losing to Lebanon Beaver Valley in a best of three match under sideout scoring rules.
Early in the first set, though, it seemed as if Garden County would be making the trip instead. The Eagles started the first set on an 11-0 run, forcing the Coyotes to call timeout and shake off some nerves.
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“After that we started playing our game,” Hoblyn said. “And I think we calmed down and settled down and played our game. It was really awesome to watch.”
They settled in, but couldn’t quite catch Garden County until the end. Anselmo-Merna erased a 19-10 deficit to come back and win 25-23, scoring the final six points of the set to stun the Eagles.
“I think our girls were just mentally focused,” Hoblyn said. “They wanted this really bad, and they were going to do what they could to make it happen.”
Garden County never recovered. Anselmo-Merna used that newfound momentum to score the first five points of the second set.
Garden County pulled to within two at 8-6, but eight consecutive points for the Coyotes later in the set, including six straight aces from Safranek, helped them go up 19-9 and close out the set 25-11.
“She served really tough, and that’s awesome,” Hoblyn said. “That was a huge factor in our win over Garden County.”
Anselmo-Merna opened the final set with a 7-0 run, and the closest Garden County came to catching the Coyotes was a four-point deficit at 12-8. Anselmo-Merna scored the set’s final four points with kills from Chandler, Safranek and Kirsten Myers and an ace from Chandler.
“We have to play our game,” Hoblyn said. “We’re not going to worry about who’s on the other side of the net. We’re going to play our game, and we’ll see where we end up.”
Anselmo-Merna will play in the first round of the Class D2 state tournament at 9 a.m. Thursday against St. Francis.