Fort Madison, IA- The drive along “Championship Road” continues into Fort Madison today and onto the volleyball court, as we dive into a program that has become synonymous with success and has been a recurring character at the state tournament. This is the story of the 2014 Holy Trinity Catholic volleyball state champions.
2005 marked Holy Trinity Catholic’s inaugural season, but even before the merger, Marquette was a familiar face at the state tournament, making eight trips, including back-to-back years before cohabitating with Aquinas, with championship runs in 1991 and 1996. A strong culture leads to consistency and that starts at the top in head coach Melissa Freesmeier. The NFHS Coach of the Year had been the head coach of Marquette’s volleyball squad since 1992 and kept the position after the merge.
Despite the change in mascots, the Crusaders were still a perennial powerhouse, making the trip to state in 2005, 2006, and 2007, including back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2006 and 2007. After a three-year absence, Holy Trinity Catholic would make it back to the dance in 2010, starting a streak of 11 straight trips to the state tournament, yet those first two trips were marred by first-round exits. Still, excitement was starting to build, especially with the emergence of Mikaela (Foecke) Richter and her 480 kills as a freshman.
“Yeah, you know, at Holy Trinity, volleyball’s kind of a legacy, and we really value that, and it’s always been something fun to watch and to go and see all the players older than you,” said Richter during an episode of the “Southeast Iowa Playbook”. “And I remember as a kid going to the state tournament and cheering everybody on and standing in the student section. So definitely was always a goal to be one of those girls on the floor.”
The Crusaders continued to knock at the door, reaching the semifinals in 2012, then falling to Janesville in four sets of the 2013 championship match. Through her first three seasons, Richter had compiled 139 wins and nearly 2,000 kills, still the ultimate prize was missing from her collection. As much as it hurts to come up short, sometimes those missteps are needed to claim the ultimate prize,
“Yeah, I think that anytime you experience a loss of any type it’s always a little bit tough and maybe a hard pill to swallow, but adversity is what makes you better and really teaches you lifelong lessons, so I think that that was a great experience for me, and even though nobody wants to lose in a championship match, it still can be a good thing.”
The 2014 Crusaders boasted eight seniors on the team, including six that started in 50 or more matches and seven that played in just as many. Ali Randolph, the one underclassman that played in over 50 matches that season, tag teamed with Maria Vonderhaar to set up the offenses’ attacks, which found success at a clip of 0.451 kill efficiency, as Richter compiled over 800 kills for the season.
Holy Trinity Catholic would lose only four matches during the regular season, all of them to opponents in higher classes and eventual state qualifiers. Otherwise, the Crusaders were running the table, sweeping 45 of their 48 wins that season. When it came time for the postseason, it felt like the title had already been earned,
“It did feel like, you know, maybe this is our time, and we worked really hard. We knew what it took to get there and, you know, obviously to play in that state championship match and losing the year before really hurt. So having that opportunity to go in and claim that title was really special, especially to do it as a senior with our group of friends.”
Richter and Holy Trinity Catholic simply dominated the competition, sweeping Gehlen Catholic in the quarterfinals, Tripoli in the semifinals where Richter set a record with 37 kills in the match, and Central Lyon for the championship. The senior also took home Class 1A All-State Tournament Team, 2014-15 Under Armor First Team All-America honors, and 2014-15 Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year. Yet, the individual accolades hardly mattered to the 2023 Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Hall of Famer,
“Really just the win was the most exciting thing. I think when you look back, you know, in 20 years, you’re never going to remember how many kills you had or really how you played. It’s that feeling you had after that win and holding up that trophy, I think, is really what sticks in your brain the most.”
It has become an assembly line for Holy Trinity Catholic, earning a state tournament berth 10 of the last 12 years, including two runner-up finishes. For coach Freesmeier, who sits at over 1,100 career wins, it takes a group effort,
“You know it’s been great. It’s just awesome to see the younger kids looking up to the older kids and you know, every year they want to be as good as a team before them. So, they come into the gym. It’s a culture that is hard work and winning. And you know, it just never changes and it’s just, you know, that’s a compliment to the players who have done all the great things through the years and the parents who have supported them and our community.”
Stay tuned throughout the week as we continue to ride “Championship Road”!