Badin Sweeps Fairfield For Eighth Win, Matching Last Year’s Victory Total

By Rick Cassano

FAIRFIELD – It was a milestone of sorts for Badin High School’s girls volleyball team, a sign that last year is clearly in the rear-view mirror.

The Rams haven’t quite reached the halfway point of the 2026 regular season, but they’ve equaled last year’s win total after going on the road and taking down Fairfield 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 on Monday night at Fairfield Arena.

“I think last year was more of a rebuilding year, but this year we’ve definitely realized we are a good team and we can beat good teams,” BHS senior setter Caitlin Brown said. “I think we can win a lot of games that people don’t expect us to win, especially after last year. If we just have confidence in ourselves, we can really do anything.”

Badin, a Division II state semifinalist in 2022, staggered to an 8-15 record last year. The Rams are on a four-match winning streak right now and own an 8-2 mark heading into a big Greater Catholic League Coed Division home match Tuesday against McNicholas.

Emily O’Brien, a senior outside hitter, said Badin has developed a mentality of ignoring records and taking every opponent seriously.

“We’re playing for one another no matter what the other team looks like, whether we think they’re not good or they’re amazing,” O’Brien said. “We come in with the same mind-set every game and focus on playing up to our 100 percent on that specific day.”

The Rams’ losses came against Lakota East and Fenwick. Badin has dropped its last six matches against McNick, which won the Division IV state championship in 2025.

“We have a really strong stretch of games coming up, so we’ve got to keep building that momentum and play like we’re 8-2,” BHS coach Courtney Weinheimer said. “When we played Fenwick, we played like we were 0-5 instead of coming out and having that confidence of a team that had a winning record. But we are getting better daily. When we ask ourselves that question at the end of each day, the answer is a resounding yes.”

Badin has won seven of the last eight meetings with Fairfield (2-7), though the teams are an even 10-10 against each other over the last two decades.

Junior Brooklyn Johnson had eight kills in Monday’s triumph, while junior Addie Pfiester and O’Brien both totaled six. Pfiester added four blocks and provides a strong 1-2 punch with Johnson as the middles.

“I thought it would be a more competitive match, not to take anything away from Badin,” Indians coach Jessi Grimes said. “Their middles are great. They’re fun to watch.”

Grimes felt her squad came out flat on an emotional evening for the program. It was “Fairfield Leads the Fight Night,” which is designed to honor and fundraise for a member of the community who’s battling cancer.

Creekside Middle School volleyball coach and teacher Becca Rogers was the center of attention at the arena. Grimes said Rogers has an excellent prognosis as she works to beat bladder cancer.

“I have to remind myself that this was more important than volleyball anyway,” Grimes said. “But I still hate losing.”

Fairfield’s on-court performance included 10 kills and three service aces from junior Reagan Draper. Freshman Emma White had seven kills and seven digs, senior Peyton Smith totaled 14 digs and senior Rose Rodriguez added 18 assists.

Grimes said Rodriguez, a setter, is just coming back from an injury “and that third set I left her in as a hitter and she had more kills in that third set than some of our hitters had all night.”

“The ‘Fairfield Leads the Fight’ game is always challenging for us no matter who we’re playing,” Grimes said. “It’s such an emotionally charged night, so I never know which version of our team we’re going to get on the court. It’s a quick turnaround from talking about things that are bigger and more important than volleyball and then having to quickly execute the volleyball.

“We were flat for sure. We’re very young and have four freshmen on the team, so I don’t know if it’s just a maturity thing or if it’s a night-specific thing. In our last two matches, we played the best I’ve seen us play against Mason and we were the loudest I’ve ever seen Saturday at Madeira. Tonight it was just a very neutral team when personality is our biggest strength.”

The Fairfield coach said she likes outside hitters White and senior Ashlyn Cline, even though they’re undersized in those spots.

“This team has a ton of potential,” said Grimes, who will take her squad to West Clermont on Wednesday. “The biggest thing we’re driving home is consistency. There are going to be growing pains because of our youth. It’s just not letting one mistake turn into five. If we can stop that snowball, we’ll be good.”

Badin didn’t have the consistent tempo it wanted Monday, but the Rams did a better job of moving at a quicker pace as the match progressed.

Senior libero Carley Nadler contributed 11 digs for Badin, and O’Brien had seven. Brown (18) and junior Ava Treadway (nine) paced the Rams in assists.

“I’ve seen us play better,” O’Brien said. “I think this gym really just sucks up a lot of energy, so we really had to work on keeping our energy up and trying to stay locked in and pushing each other. It’s definitely different than playing on our home court.”

Weinheimer said playing in the vast Fairfield Arena requires some adjustments.

“It is hard to play in big gyms like this when you’re used to low ceilings and tight quarters,” she said. “Especially with these bleachers back, there’s just a lot of room to see. We kept telling the girls that they couldn’t keep up with our tempo. If we’re running our fast tempo, then they’re not going to get blocks up. That showed with Brooklyn and Addie getting tons of kills in the middle.

“We’re still working on our blocking. We’re still struggling on our pins with blocking. But we’re more relaxed in serve-receive, and I think we’re being smarter with the ball.”

“I feel like we’ve definitely grown as a team,” Brown said. “Last year was not our best year, but I think a difference this year is we’ve been playing for our teammates and not just playing for ourselves. We’re bonding off the court as well as on the court. That’s definitely been helping us with our play. We’re doing a lot of mental training things as a team, which is giving us some tools to use to help with our confidence.”

Brown has mostly been a defensive specialist the last two seasons, but she’s moved into a full-time setting role this year.

“I’ve always been a setter,” Brown said. “I made varsity as a sophomore and Coach Courtney told me they needed me as a DS and I was like, ‘OK, anything I can do to help my team.’ So I learned it and I think I did pretty well at it and contributed to the team, even though it wasn’t my position.

“One of the things I’ve been trying to work on as a setter this season is my connection with the middles. I think that’s something I’ve been doing better throughout the season. We always want to get the tempo going faster.”

O’Brien said the Rams weren’t discouraged by their two defeats.

“Our two losses were good losses, but I also think we could’ve come out better against those two teams,” she said. “We’ve got some good talent, and I think we also have some really good chemistry. We can all trust each other on the court.”

Badin hosts McNick and then Ursuline on Saturday. The Rams’ next four games will be on the road against Talawanda, Fenwick, Dayton Chaminade Julienne and Bellbrook.

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