Badin Outlasts Upset-Minded Mercy McAuley To Win D-III District Opener
Badin High School's Addie Pfiester takes a swing at the net Oct. 21, 2026, during a Division III district girls volleyball quarterfinal against Mercy McAuley at Loveland. Badin earned a 3-2 victory to advance.
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By Rick Cassano
LOVELAND – Addie Pfiester caught one big break at the best possible moment Wednesday night.
Badin High School’s girls volleyball team survived a monumental struggle with Mercy McAuley in a Division III district quarterfinal and Pfiester, a junior middle hitter, did the finishing herself.
The Rams tallied the match’s final 3 points thanks to Pfiester, who put down a kill and then delivered back-to-back aces. That final ace came on a let serve that hit the net and trickled over the top to complete a 25-13, 20-25, 25-14, 15-25, 15-13 triumph at Loveland.
“Oh my gosh, I think my heart stopped on the last one,” Pfiester said. “I was just in my mind thinking I’ve got to put this ball in, then it went over and I hear all my team coming in with their arms open. It was excitement, relief, all of it.”
Badin won the teams’ regular-season meeting 25-16, 25-22, 27-25 on Sept. 5 at Mercy McAuley and it’s been a difficult year for the Wolves, who went winless in the Girls Greater Catholic League.
But 10th-seeded Mercy McAuley started the postseason by sweeping Batavia and then was 2 points away from sinking the Rams before finishing 5-19.
“I told my girls all week that this was not going to be a gimme,” Badin coach Courtney Weinheimer said. “Their record says 5-18, but that is not the team that is across the way because they play a much tougher schedule than us. We play a tough schedule, but they play a tougher one. We needed to come in ready to fight for every single point.
“When we got frustrated, we saw the breakdown. When we get in our heads, we start to rattle off mistakes. I’m happy that we did not give up after the fourth set when they took the momentum. I’m proud of them for finding a way to win. But volleyball is a mental game, and we did not have a consistent mental belief for the entire match. We had bits and pieces of it, but we did not have a consistent mental game.”
Fifth-seeded Badin (14-9) will return to Loveland on Monday for a 5 p.m. district semifinal against No. 4 Goshen (22-1). The Warriors ousted the Rams in the first round last year.
“I still have a really good feeling about us,” Badin senior libero Carley Nadler said. “I just think the next game we need to come out more disciplined and stay steady the entire game and not let these roller coasters affect us.”
Nadler said sweeping the Wolves last month and then taking the opening set Wednesday gave the Rams a false sense of security.
“We knew to not walk in and take things for granted. I think there was a lot of improvement on both sides since the first time we played them,” said Nadler, who racked up 25 digs. “I think we came out ready to play tonight, then the second set we got a little too comfortable and just let them come back.”
The 5-foot-11 Pfiester collected 12 kills, five blocks and fives aces to lead Badin. Emily O’Brien had 12 kills, 24 digs and four aces, while HHHHHHolly Jung contributed 11 kills, Annie Mathews marked eight and Brooklyn Johnson added seven. Caitlin Brown compiled 34 assists and 13 digs.
Badin was either down or tied for most of the fifth set. The Rams led 1-0 and 12-11 before their match-ending 3-point surge.
Weinheimer said Nadler’s passing was one of the highlights of Badin’s performance.
“I was really thinking about staying in the moment in that last set because I knew 1 point either way could change the entire game,” Nadler said. “I was definitely nervous, but I was trying to not let it show at all or affect my play because I really wanted to win. I knew if my nerves got me, it wouldn’t be good. So I was really focusing on trying to do my job and trust my teammates.”
Pfiester said she’s sure some of the Rams simply took the Wolves too lightly.
“Some of us walked into this thinking it was going to be an easier win, but they really came out fighting,” Pfiester said. “I feel like we were so up at times and so down at other times. But we really picked it up when we had to. We left it all out on the court.”
Macie Crawford (15) and Anna Meyer (11) topped Mercy McAuley in kills, and Sydney Bouldin had nine kills and seven blocks. Aubrey Blanton chipped in 23 digs, while Ava Thelen notched 42 assists, 14 digs and four blocks.
Wolves coach Brittney Billiter conceded that ending the season on a let serve was a little hard to swallow.
“That’s a tough way to go, but our girls played really well,” Billiter said. “That’s a tough Badin team.”
She said Mercy McAuley came into the postseason with a positive mentality. The Wolves haven’t had a winning season since winning the Division II state championship in 2023.
“We have a very challenging schedule and we’re the smallest team in our division, so it’s been a challenging year,” Billiter said. “But I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls. I would say in previous years I’ve coached teams with this type of record that were ready for the season to be over. Our girls were not. I think that was clear by what they put out on the floor tonight.
“They’ve continued to get better every game, and that’s all I can ask for. We’re excited for next year. We only have four seniors, so we’ll bring almost our whole team back.”
If the seeds hold true, the Badin-Goshen winner will face top-seeded Bellbrook for a district title Oct. 31.
Weinheimer said calmness on the court and disciplined play are needed for the Rams to keep progressing.
“If we play at our level and believe in each other and trust in each other, 100 percent we can make a run in this tournament,” Weinheimer said. “We just have to bring that all together.”
