'They are fantastic volleyball players'

LEIPSIC – Some coaches will refer to an unexpected or motivational victory as a "program win."Brent Newell might start using the term to describe the entire 2025 season."I think we have a good program because we have a lot of good athletes here, a lot of girls who participate in club volleyball in the off season," Newell said."They're working on their skills nine months of the year and that really shows. It makes a big difference. It's one of those mentalities where we try to reload instead of rebuild."Leipsic won both Blanchard Valley Conference and Putnam County League championships in 2024, reached the Division VII regional semifinals, and went 24-2 overall.Graduation took a big bite out of the Vikings roster, though. Four of the team's five hitters (Morgan Apple, 211 kills, 20 blocks; Jazelle Perez, 208 kills, 35 blocks; Jadyn Cupp, 111 kills, 40 blocks; Ava Schroeder, 37 kills) graduated, along with one of the team's top defensive players (Brooklyn Cunningham, 40 digs).Leipsic did return a nice nucleus of talent, including BVC Player of the year Danaysia Danzy, first-team all-league setter Karmyn Brough, and third-team libero Jaelynn Siefer.But there were gaps to be filled, and unanswered questions."Going from last season to this season, I think everybody thought we were going to go downhill because we keep losing so many seniors," Danzy said."But we have freshmen coming up, and others in the program who have been on the team. They know what to do, where to go and they've stepped right in."That may be putting it mildly.The new faces in the Leipsic lineup haven't just stepped in, they've hit the ground running.With Monday's win over McComb and Tuesday's win over Miller City, Leipsic won at least a share of league championships in both the Blanchard Valley Conference and Putnam County Leagues.The Vikings have won 28 straight BVC matches spanning the years the Vikings switched from the BVC to the Northwest Conference (2021-2023) and then back again (2024). The PCL title was their eighth straight and 11th in 12 years. The victory over Miller City was also Leipsic's 20th of the season, giving Newell and the program 10 consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins."I think that goes to show how good are our athletes in the volleyball program," Newell said."Coaches can sit here and game plan and tell them what to do, run film sessions for them and run the practice. But the players are the ones who execute the game plan and should get all the credit, because they are fantastic volleyball players."Danzy and Brough are capping off outstanding careers.Danzy, the Putnam County League and District 8 East Player of the Year in both 2023 and 2024 and Putnam County League Player of the Year in 2024, is the school's career leader in kills with over 1,500. She also has over 1,000 career digs.Brough owns the school record for assists in a season (935) and career (over 2,000). This season, she is 1,594 of 1,606 setting with 677 assists. Siefer leads the Vikings in digs (288) with Danzy adding 184 and Brough 103.The depth of the program, though, is evident in a deeper look at the stats.Kya Brandt, a freshman, is second on the team with 163 kills. Sydney Apple, a sophomore has 102 kills and Morgan Valdez, another freshman, has 83 kills and leads the team in blocks (27).Also strong from the service line, Leipsic as a team is 1,349-of-1,511 serving with 238 total aces. Brandt has 51 aces, Alyssa Campbell, a sophomore, has 39 and Siefer, Brough, Danzy and Apple all have between 30 and 36."I think one of our strengths is that we're pretty solid all around, in a lot of areas," said Brough, who wants to follow in the footsteps of her great grandfather and grandfather and be a pilot, possibly even flying 747s some day."We have some really good hitters and some freshmen who are really stepping up. It's kind of scary, because you never really know with freshmen, but they are doing really, really well."Following today's match with Arlington, Leipsic and all area teams will prepare for the second season, the OHSAA tournament. The Vikings will host Lima Temple Christian on Oct. 15 in their tournament opener, and Newell feels a hefty dose of top-notch competition has his team prepared."The second half of our schedule we played some really good teams, like Patrick Henry, Ottawa-Glandorf, Liberty-Benton …" Newell said."Those are tournament atmosphere games. That should help, especially with the young players we have playing. The crowds are into it, it's close matches against good opponents …. That tournament atmosphere may help our younger kids be a little calmer, because they've already been through something like that."With the strength of small-school volleyball in Northwest Ohio – 10 of the state's top 20 ranked teams in Division VI and 11 of the top 20 in Division VII are Northwest Ohio schools – tournament advancement is always a challenge. Over the past five years, Leipsic has lost twice to Convoy Crestview in the district finals and three times to Tiffin Calvert in the regional.The Vikings could face a different tournament trail this year, however. With 45 Division VII schools in Northwest Ohio, those teams are bracketed into six districts. Four district sites will advance their winners to the Northwest Regional; the winner of the Northwest 5 district will be sent to the Northeast Regional, while the winner of the Northwest 6 district, which will be hosted by Findlay High School and the one Leipsic is in this year, will be sent to the Southeast Regional.