Versailles turned the tables on Coldwater — and did it in straight sets.

The Tigers beat the Cavaliers 3-0 (27-25, 25-11, 25-12) in the Division V state final Saturday at the Nutter Center in Dayton, winning the fourth state championship in program history and avenging the regular-season loss to Coldwater back on Sept. 24.

A tight opener, then a runaway

The first set was the only one Coldwater threatened in. Versailles edged it 27-25, and from there the Tigers took over — 25-11 in the second set, 25-12 in the third — in a match that lasted just 1:05.

The numbers tell the story of the last two sets. Versailles hit .311 as a team (41 kills on 90 swings) with 10 aces; Coldwater hit .074 (28 kills, 21 errors) with one ace. Versailles won the serve-and-pass battle decisively, siding out at 61.2 percent to Coldwater’s 38.2.

Versailles leaders

Kiley May led the Tigers with 15 kills (.357), three aces and 18 points. Allie Wietholter added 10 kills on .529 hitting, and Allison Bergman had seven kills and three block assists. Reagan Raterman had six kills and four aces, and Rowan Schmitmeyer ran the offense with 33 assists and 10 digs. Sophie Stammen anchored the back row with 15 digs.

May and Wietholter were the one-two punch all weekend: May had 20 kills in Friday’s semifinal sweep of previously unbeaten South Range, and Wietholter had 11.

Coldwater’s day

Harlow Heyne led Coldwater with nine kills, and Campbell Etzler and Mara Riethman had six each. Charlotte Hoying had 19 assists, and Audrey Diller had five digs. But the Cavaliers, who hit .177 in Friday’s five-set semifinal win over No. 2 Meadowbrook, never found their rhythm against Versailles’ serve — 21 attack errors and a .074 hitting line.
Etzler had 18 kills and Heyne 15 in the semifinal; in the final, the two combined for 15.

The title picture

Versailles (23-6) adds a fourth state title to the ones from 2013, 2017 and 2018. It is the Tigers’ ninth trip to the state semifinals and their first title since 2018. Head coach Liz McNeilan, in her fifth season at Versailles, is now 95-42 at the school.

Coldwater (24-5) ends as the state runner-up, two years after winning the 2024 championship. The Cavaliers, coached by Nikki Etzler in her 11th season, had reached the final by beating No. 2 Meadowbrook 3-2 in Friday’s semifinal.
The final was an all-MAC affair — a rematch of the Sept. 24 regular-season meeting Coldwater won 3-1. This time, Versailles left no doubt.

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