SHERWOOD — The 2022 Fairview volleyball senior class is no stranger to success.

Over the last four seasons, the Apaches are 74-14 and while there are many moving pieces that have spurned that success on, only three girls have been there through it all.

Carrie Zeedyk, Zoe Appel and Paige Ricica have all played an important role in this four year run of success and it all started for them back in fifth grade when they started playing together amidst a group of 17 girls in their class.

The three you see still on the court now are the ones who stayed the course.

“We are the only ones who stuck with it. I think we had 17 in first grade and then the number just started dwindling, especially when we got to high school. We were just the three that stuck with it and I’m glad we did,” Zeedyk said.

All three of them, amongst a host of other talented players, have been crucial parts to a 12-2 start in 2022, the third time they have had such a start in the past four years.

“I just feel like this group really gels well together and then when you add in some really skilled underclassmen it is why we’ve been able to have success because they have that trust with each other,” Fariview head coach Allison Ciolek said.

It all starts in the back row with the seniors in Appel and Zeedyk who have played a big role on defense for the Apaches this season.

Appel is fourth on the team in digs with 91 and Zeedyk is just behind her at 90. Every single player on the court has a role on defense though with their top three kill leaders in Kelly Crites, Ricica and Aubrey Hammer all also coming in top three in digs.

Still with the loss of Emma Wyne, who led the Apaches with 390 digs last year, they needed to find more defensive production and while Zeedyk was fourth on the team with 222 digs last year, Appel had just 43 and has had a big role in replacing that production.

“Zoey has really come on in that back row. She’s picked up a lot of the digs. We were kind of looking for somebody that was going to be able to cover some of that stuff and she’s really been that person,” Ciolek said.

And being that their offense is so prolific, with each Crites (196 kills) and Ricica (160 kills) placing top five in the GMC, just making sure that the back line was in order and that the Apaches could keep the ball up was a priority this offseason for the Apaches.

“We’ve really put an emphasis on that,” Ciolek said of her team’s back row defense. “You just have to get the ball up with Kelly and Paige at the front and it they can get a swing, they are going to batter that ball onto the other side.”

And it helps too that statistically they have the best passer in the GMC as well, with junior setter Haley Hammer’s 412 assists topping the second placer from the conference by 112 kils.

Hammer just reached 1,000 career kills as a junior and is as important to the offense as the big hitters are that finish the play off.

“Haley makes us all look good,” Zeedyk said.

Knowing that a lot of times the fate of a point can rest solely on just making sure Hammer gets the ball so she can distribute it to the big hitters can be daunting, but for Zeedyk and Appel, it helps them focus more than anything.

“Obviously everything starts with defense and serve receives,” Zeedyk said. “I just kind of keep that in my head that if I don’t keep the ball up then Haley can’t get the assist or Paige can’t get the kill. That just helps me focus because I know I have to do my job in order for those other girls to have success.”

“Knowing that I can get the ball up and Kelly, Paige or Aubrey can just smash it down makes me feel great,” Appel said. “That keeps me persistent in wanting to keep passing the ball right up to Haley.”

Arguably their most important piece on the back row is also one of the most important parts to the front as Ricica is the only four-year varsity player on the team and that experience has helped her be able to play anywhere on the court.

She leads the team in digs (121) and serve receive (195-210) and is second on the team in kills and serve percentage (96.6%). She leads the entire Crescent-News coverage area in hitting percentage (40.6%) and is second in the area in aces (41).

She makes a major impact in every aspect of the game and that is certainly felt on the court.

“We look to her on offense to get some production and keep teams on their toes with that but she is a big part of that back row as far as keeping the ball up and keeping it in play,” Ciolek said. “Not to take anything away from Kelly by any means but when you look at who’s in the back row when Kelly is up there it is usually Paige and Aubrey. So they really own that back row and they get those balls up which allows our offense to take place.”

“I just know that my teammates are going to do their job when it’s their time so it’s just really important for me to do my job when its my time,” Ricica said. “Obviously that’s different things at different times and maybe more than one thing at a time but if I do my job then I am doing my part and I just want to be there for my teammates.”

All of this has led to the success of the Apaches once again this season and though this stretch has been great for them, it has led to just one GMC title and minimal postseason success with just one district finals appearance.

This year, the Apaches are hoping to reclaim the GMC title after back-to-back titles were snatched from their grasp in a winner take all game against Tinora last season that saw the Rams come back from down two sets to zero.

The Rams then went on to win the district beating Lake in the district final who Fairview fell to in three sets in district semifinals.

“I think we were all definitely disappointed in what they year turned out to be. We were 18-7, you look at that, that’s really not a bad record but with where we want to be and what our expectations are that was maybe a disappointment to us. And we knew we wanted to get better.”

Immediately after the spring season came to a close, the Apaches got to work especially needing to bring in a group that included two freshmen and a sophomore.

“We started working out after our softball season ended. We were in the gym after school a few times a week and then once we went to summer workouts, everyone on our team came to everything, even the younger girls and I think that just helped us build our team chemistry,” Zeedyk said. “We knew last year that Aubrey and Payshince could come up and play so throughout the summer we just tried to welcome them but not be too easy on them.”

Welcoming them was a key for the Apache seniors and especially for Ricica, who knows what it’s to be a freshman swimming in the deep end with the varsity squad.

“I remember my freshman year I was terrified of the upperclassmen so I think we really tried to make sure that they felt welcome and they didn’t hate us when they first started playing with us,” Ricica said.

And now this season, the Apaches have gotten Tinora, who won two of those last three titles and have won the district in two-straight seasons, out of the way beating them in three sets.

“Somebody asked Paige if she was ready for that Tinora game and she said ‘I have been waiting for a year.’ That’s just the type of mentality that she has along with the rest of the girls,” Ciolek said. “I think that win is huge for our team but I think it presents a different challenge for us. Tinora has been at the end of our schedule so I feel like that buildup has been through the whole season so I feel like our mindset has to change. So cool we took care of Tinora, they are a great team, they have a great program but now can we sustain that.”

That’s the big question. Whether or not they can sustain it.

Right now it seems they are headed for another late-season GMC clash with Wayne Trace (11-2, 3-0 GMC). But the Apaches are battle tested as they took defending Division III state champions Liberty-Benton to the wire in the second set of a two-set loss and also defeated state ranked in Division IV in three sets. The Apaches themselves are ranked 20th in the state.

And while the Apaches are focused on turning past disappointments into achievements this they can rest on the fact that they are exactly where they dreamed of being as a freshman class apart of a dominant volleyball program.

“It’s just been cool to see all of the seniors and upperclassmen throughout our time, even when we were younger, we just grew up idolizing them and wanting to be them and now we finally get to,” Ricica said.

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