TITLE IX AT 50: Fairfield volleyball enjoyed decade of dominance under Herschberger

Aug. 9—BENTON — On June 23, 1972, the Education Amendments of 1972 were signed into law. The most notable part of the legislation were the 37 words of Title IX of the act, which read, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

While sports weren't directly mentioned in the law, Title IX paved the way for what female sports is today. In Indiana, high school girls volleyball and gymnastics were immediately added as IHSAA sports in the 1972-73 season, while girls track, golf, swimming and diving, basketball, tennis, cross country, softball and soccer all eventually followed suit over the next 25 years.

Now, with it being the 50th anniversary of Title IX, The Goshen News is proud to celebrate some of the best female sports achievements from its coverage area.

This story focuses on the success of the Fairfield volleyball program during the coaching tenure of Carla Herschberger, who led the Falcons to 10-straight sectional titles from 2004-2013, six regionals and two state championship game appearances.

TAKING OVER FAIRFIELD

Carla Herschberger already had found success as a volleyball coach before coming to Fairfield.

In fact, the year before she took over the Falcons' program, she led their NECC rival, Westview, to the Class 2A state semifinals. Herschberger believes that success helped make the transition into the Fairfield gig easier.

"When I came to Fairfield, knowing we had been in the final four, I think that really made people buy-in to what we were doing in the program," Herschberger said.

Herschberger officially took over in the 2001 season and immediately got to work building the infrastructure of the program.

"Probably the biggest thing I changed was I started working more with the younger teams," Herschberger said. "We set up a junior high league for our kids and invited area schools to come to that. I made the relationships with younger kids, and that just carried into our program.

"We also started doing some more summer stuff. We did summer workouts, and I don't think they had much of that before, at least not at the intense level that we were doing it. ... When you put in time with your teammates and — I don't want to say suffering — but when you are suffering with your teammates through those workouts, you kind of build that bond where you don't want to give up when you're in a game because your whole team has worked so hard during the offseason."

2004 BREAKTHROUGH

After a few years of building up the program, Fairfield finally found postseason success in 2004. That year, the Falcons won their first sectional title since 1977, winning the Westview sectional to bring home the trophy.

"It was very rewarding," said Herschberger of the first sectional title. "I will never forget the faces of those girls when they won that first sectional. It was pure joy, and that's kind of what it's all about."

While Fairfield wouldn't advance any farther in the state tournament that year, 2004 proved to be the start of a decade-long run of state-level success.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS

The first of two state championship game appearances under Herschberger came in 2006. After a regional final appearance in 2005, the Falcons put it all together the next season and reached the Class 2A state championship game.

Unfortunately, standing in their way was the vaunted Muncie Burris program that had won every Class 2A state title since the system expanded to multi-class in 1997. The Owls weren't just the best program in the state — they were arguably the best in the country.

Burris would go on to beat Fairfield in straight sets, 25-17, 25-13, 25-17, ending the Falcons' season with a 32-7 record. It wasn't all sad news that day, though, as Carla's daughter, Kelsey, was named the IHSAA Mental Attitude Award winner for the sport.

In 2007 and 2008, Fairfield advanced to the state tournament, losing to Muncie Burris in the semifinals both times. The 2008 season featured the best single-season record for the Falcons under Carla Herschberger, going 36-3.

In 2010, under a new postseason format featuring a semistate round, the Falcons would win its first semistate championship to advance to the single-game state final. Once again, though, Fairfield ran into the Owls in the title game, losing in straight sets once again to the perennial power.

One of the key players on the 2010 state runner-up team was sophomore Riley (Troyer) Anderson, and she credited the team's camaraderie as a reason why they were able to make a deep playoff run.

"For us, it was just a lack of pressure that the team felt at that point," Troyer said. "We were just really good friends. I think it's one of those things where I don't know if you get that type of chemistry on teams. We were honestly friends even outside of the court, which made our team chemistry even better.

"I remember all the team bonding things; all of the two-a-days. And then, we'd just step on the court and quite frankly knew we were going to win. To have that winning culture is something that doesn't just happen overnight. I just remember having so much confidence over that year."

That doesn't mean Troyer doesn't roll her eyes when she hears the words "Muncie Burris."

"I think all of us are, 'ugh, Muncie Burris,'" Troyer joked. "If the class system would've been what it is now and they had to move up, we wouldn't have had to deal with them. But even to just say you got to play Muncie Burris I think was a good experience. They were just that good."

While Fairfield didn't make it to the state finals again, they continued to win sectionals and regionals on a yearly basis until Carla stepped down following the 2013 campaign.

Overall, the Falcons went 387-80 during Carla's tenure, finishing state runner-up in Class 2A in 2006 and 2010. They went a staggering 112-6 in the Northeast Corner Conference during that span, winning 10-straight sectionals and six regionals as well.

It was one of the most successful decade-long stretches for any program in Elkhart County history. For Carla, though, the wins were secondary to the relationships she formed with her players and coaches.

"I just really want to compliment all the girls I had," Carla said. "If players don't buy-in to a program, no matter what you know or what you don't know, it's not going to work. ... Just the dedication of the girls and the relationships that you build, you have them forever. That's why you play sports and that's the most important thing to me."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.