Anna junior outside hitter Liz Staudter bumps during a Shelby County Athletic League match against Houston on Tuesday in Anna. Staudter leads the team in kills and ranks second in blocks, third in digs and fourth in serve receives.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
ANNA — Anna has struggled in recent seasons, but an experienced group has racked up victories in the last week.
The Rockets have relied on much the same cast in recent years, and the now-veteran group won its fifth match in a row by beating Houston 25-10, 25-18, 25-21 on Tuesday.
After opening with a 3-0 win over Covington, Anna (6-3, 2-2 Shelby County Athletic League) lost 3-2 to Versailles and 3-2 to Jackson Center.
The Rockets started their winning streak by beating Fairlawn 3-2 in a league match on the road last Thursday, then capped off a three-win day by beating the Jets 2-1 in the championship match of the Lehman Catholic Labor Day Invitational on Saturday.
Anna hasn’t finished over .500 since 2019. The squad won five matches in 2021 and finished 11-13 last year. Kelli Zumberger, who is in her 12th season, said the team is aiming for a successful season this year.
“This team has really come together and has adopted this, ‘we before me,’ concept,” Zumberger said. “It’s something they’ve really embraced. You can tell on the floor how much trust they have with one another.
“When this team is on, they are unstoppable.”
Leading the squad in the front row is junior outside hitter Liz Staudter, who is in her third season as a starter. She reached 400 career kills with 12 in Tuesday’s win; she has made 104 this season. She ranks second on the team in blocks (17), third in digs and fourth in serve receive.
“This past year, she’s really embraced, ‘Hey, I’ve got to take control out there,’ offensively,” Zumberger said. “Being an outside hitter, a lot of sets are going out to her, especially out of system. She has embraced the mental part of the game there.”
Sophomore outside hitter Ava Reed is in a main position on the front row after coming off the bench last year; she has 72 kills. Junior middle hitter Makenna Pettus is in her second season on varsity and has 49 kills and a team-high 19 blocks.
Senior setter Brenna Cobb is in her fourth season. She has already surpassed 200 assists and ranks second on the team in digs (93) and third in blocks.
“Defensively, I don’t know what I’d so without her,” Zumberger said of Cobb. “She’s all over the floor, and what she has done this year is really taken over running our offense. It seems like she’s just a true setter. Knows who to set, when to set and why to set.”
Senior defensive specialist Abigail George is in her third season on varsity and has a team-high 120 digs. She also leads the team in serve receive. Junior defensive specialist Izzy Jenkins, who is in her second season, ranks third in serve receives, fourth in digs and first in aces. Junior Madison Mumaw, also in her second season, ranks second in serve receives and fifth in digs.
“Everyone has had their moments and their games,” Zumberger said. “Our back row is just scraping everywhere. It’s been fun to watch our defense grow.”
Plenty of tough opponents remain, including an SCAL match scheduled for Thursday at Russia and a nonconference match at Marion Local scheduled for Tuesday.
“It’s just one game at a time for us,” Zumberger said. “We’re embracing looking at what we need to work on. Sometimes, that’s game-to-game. Right now, it’s just rallying together, keep pushing through those tough moments. …There’s a lot of grit with this team, and they show it. They just want to win.”
Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.
