CAMDEN — Sarah Husemann couldn’t have asked for a better start from her girls in the third set.

In the blink of an eye, Caesar Rodney High had already put together a 12-0 advantage and led by as many as 17 points in the team’s pivotal third set victory.

The 12th-seeded Riders rode that momentum to a 3-1 victory over No. 21 Cape Henlopen High in Thursday night’s DIAA volleyball state tournament first round.

“One of my favorite things about this team is that they are true competitors and they just keep on playing no matter what,” said the first-year CR coach Husemann. “It was the perfect start, I couldn’t have asked for a better one.

“I’m just so proud of these girls. They come out and they really work hard every single practice. Having a new coach this year, it’s hard to get to know each other at first, but I think we’ve hit some magic.”

The Riders (11-5) move on to face No. 5 Newark Charter School (12-3) in Saturday night’s second round.

It’s CR’s second 3-1 win over Henlopen Conference Northern Division foe Cape this season and marks the program’s first state tourney win since defeating Dickinson 3-0 in the opening round of the tourney on Oct. 31, 2019.

The big 25-8 third set win put CR ahead 2-1, but with Cape ahead 17-11 in the fourth set, it appeared the Vikings could potentially force a fifth and final set before the Riders battled back to clinch the four-set victory.

A 14-6 run to end the fourth set clinched the tournament win for the Riders.

“I just knew we needed energy — energy is what gave us that 12-0 lead.” said senior captain Gabrielle Davis. “We were down like 17-11 in that fourth set but I told them ‘if we have energy, we will win this game’ and that’s exactly what we did.”

Davis led the way with a team-high 24 assists and 10 digs, adding three aces while serving. Fellow senior captain Jessica Butler registered three digs, one assist, one ace and one kill.

Senior Lindsey Shuba recorded 13 assists, six digs and a pair of aces; junior outside hitter Alexandra Mardesich led the team in kills with 16, adding eight digs, six aces and a block.

Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Eddy finished with 12 kills and three digs; senior Makenna Diem had eight digs and two assists.

“I’m just so proud of my team and so excited that we’ve come so far along,” said Butler. “We’ve worked so hard since the beginning of the summer and all throughout the season, so I’m just so proud of everyone.”

Aside from the early 1-1 score, Caesar Rodney led the entire first set on the way to a 25-17 victory to take a 1-0 lead.

Cape took its first lead of the night at 3-2 in the second set and the two squads exchanged leads five times before the Vikings used a 12-3 run to take a commanding 21-13 lead.

The Riders bounced back with a run of their own but the Vikings pulled away with the 25-19 second set win to tie it up 1-1.
Caesar Rodney took full advantage of the momentum it created to end the second set and carried it over to the third.

The Riders finished the match with 25-8 and 25-23 victories in the third and fourth sets, respectively.

“Towards the end in that fourth set we just talked about how the game is not over, we just had to push a few more points and just keep on fighting for every single point,” said Husemann. “Cape is a tremendous team, we have a lot of respect for them and their coach …. They really played a great game tonight.”