‘We can do this again’: Olentangy Berlin girls volleyball aim at repeat state trip
Saturday, August 16, 2025
By Michael Rich
mrichnotwealthy@gmail.com
Jill Rode looks for a big hit for the Olentangy Berlin girls volleyball team in a home scrimmage against Fairbanks earlier this month. Photos: Kevin Rouch
The walls in the gymnasium at Olentangy Berlin High School are still a little sparse, which is not surprising for a school that is entering its seventh year.
Last year, the girls volleyball team was able to add a few banners to fill in some blank spots.
The Bears went 18-9 overall and won the OCC-Cardinal Division championship, posting a record of 10-0 to capture its first league title.
They also added their first district and regional championships along the way as well as a banner to denote the program’s first trip to the state tournament where they fell to Cleveland St. Joseph 25-23, 25-19, 25-13 in a Division I semifinal.
Berlin’s pursuit of more banners on the wall begins Aug. 16 at Sylvania Northview. The regular season officially began Aug. 15 for all programs around the state.
“We started off (last season) with the only goal in mind was a conference championship,” said senior libero Ella Kresak, a Malone University commit. “Once we (reached that goal), we just didn’t stop. Ever since then, we know what we can do and what we can become.”
The sky was the limit after winning the OCC-Cardinal. The Bears defeated Hilliard Davidson in four sets and Olentangy Liberty in four two matches later to win the program’s first district and regional titles. The win over the Patriots was Berlin’s first in five tries, including a five-set match earlier in the season.
Ella Kresak elevates for the serve against Fairbanks. The senior captain, who is a Malone commit, holds season and career digs records for the Bears.
Berlin may have felt like an outsider to its school district sister programs. The Bears put together three consecutive seasons above .500 but had only made a district semifinal twice and never a final before the tournament expanded to seven divisions last season.
But it’s been nothing compared to what others in the district have done recently. Liberty and Orange finished as state runners-up in 2021 and 2023, respectively. Even Olentangy has a state trip on its ledger, finishing as runners-up in Class AA back in 1979.
“We’re not really as successful as some other (Olentangy) programs,” senior right-side hitter Kadee Goolsby said. “So, we just really wanted to be competitive and going into last season, our goal was (to win the) OCC.
“And we achieved that because we had a group of girls that just were really competitive in the gym at practice before games (and) off the court in the classroom too. I feel like just that type of environment when everyone’s pushing each other to be the best.”
Berlin is set up to have another strong year, losing only two graduates off last year’s squad in opposite hitter Ava Fate and a role player in middle hitter Madi Vizer.
“We talk about the fact that now it’s almost an expectation,” fourth-year coach Michelle Mimna said. “You can’t just assume that it’s going to happen again. You have to be very careful of the fact that you have that same goal because now we’ve got a target on our back. I mean, we’re going to get everybody’s best … everybody’s best.”
Junior captain Addie Knapke, a verbal commit to Northwestern, holds the season and career aces records for the Double Blue.
Their top three leaders in kills in juniors Charlize Ailes (312) and Jillian Rode (272), as well as Goolsby (262), are back on the front line.
But the strength was in the back line according to Mimna.
“We keep the ball off the floor better than anyone that I know of,” Mimna said. “So that’s what we hang our hat on.”
Kresak led the team with 494 digs – one of five players returning with over 150 last season along with Ailes (261), senior Jersey Smith (246), junior Addison Knapke (185) and Goolsby (162). Goolsby is the top returning blocker (57) behind only Fate (67) last season.
What makes their defense so special?
“Putting your body through whatever to get that ball up – just kind of that mentality,” said Knapke, a Northwestern commit, who also led the team with 63 aces ahead of Ailes’ 61. “See ball, get ball (and) go – no matter what, right?”
The Bears are planning to watch the film of last year’s state semifinal in the near future. It’s something they’ve done collectively and as individuals over the last few months both to remember where they’ve been and where they want to go.
“The reason I watch it is I like to look back and just … I feel myself in that moment again and I just feel like how special it was,” Kresak said. “Hearing the announcer say, ‘Ella Kresak’ for the first time – I think that’s the moment where it makes it real. Like, we could do this, and we can do this again (this year), and we can keep going. You keep pushing to get better.”
Kadee Goolsby, a senior captain, is a three-year letter winner and leads Olentangy Berlin’s returnees in blocks.