The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team won the Mudsock trophy on Tuesday, beating Fishers in four sets at the Tiger Den, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20.
The match had been postponed for a couple weeks, and it was worth the wait. Both teams played at a high level, with the Royals coming out on top to keep their Hoosier Crossroads Conference record (4-0) and overall record (15-0) perfect for the season.
“Fishers is about as well-coached as they come,” said Southeastern coach Jason Young. “Their program has just unbelievable talent. It’s a rivalry like none other, and it’s wonderful again to have friends play friends.”
The Royals won the first set, then were engaged in a back and forth battle in the second set. Fishers led 10-6 early in the set, with Jada Allen starting a run by hitting back-to-back kills.
Southeastern fought back to take an 18-15 lead. Olivia Phillips, Delaney Garner and Taylor Lauri were among the HSE players hitting kills and Emi Robinson served an ace during that run. But the Tigers came back to take a 19-18 lead, thanks to an ace and another kill by Allen.
Grace Dunnuck later hit a kill to get Fishers up 23-22, then Allen and JaNyah Henderson teamed for a block to give the Tigers two set points. Fishers won the set minutes later.
The Royals came out strong in the third set, leading 3-0, then absorbing a Tigers comeback to take a 9-5 advantage. Fishers made another comeback, but the Royals would later go on a 5-0 run to lead 18-11. Taylor Harden and Avery Hobson both hit kills during that time.
The Tigers cut that lead to 19-16, as Emily Waldrop, Allen and Mikayla Christiansen all had kills. Southeastern held on, though, and won the set on back-to-back spikes by Hobson and Garner.
The Royals hit the ball hard, but used several light touches at the net to win points as well.
“That’s part of the game plan,” said Young. “We wanted to try to mix things up as much as possible. We’d been a little bit predictable in the past few matches, so it was nice to mix things in and get things going nicely.”
The fourth set was more back and forth, although the Royals were able to steadily increase their lead as it went on. Garner hit back-to-back kills to give HSE an 18-12 lead. Fishers continued to fight, but a Harden kill gave the Royals match point at 24-20, and Southeastern won the next point to clinch the match.
Harden led the offense with 17 kills, while Garner had 16 kills, as well as two aces and two blocks. Lovie Wallace hit eight kills.
Emily Weber handed out 23 assists, with Phillips dishing out 17. Robinson served two aces. Carly Mills collected 30 digs, while Jordan Engelmann had 14 digs.
Waldrop hit 18 kills to lead the Tigers, with Allen hitting 13 and Christiansen nine. Henderson made five blocks and Allen had four. Camryn Haworth dished out 44 assists to go with 21 digs and two blocks. Samantha Perdue had 15 digs and Waldrop had 14.
“It’s a very high bar, and Fishers, Indiana has phenomenal volleyball,” said Fishers coach Steven Peek. “It’s a really high bar, so you can play well and be the losing team when you play Mudsock. I do think that we played well tonight. I absolutely think we’re better today than we were two weeks ago, which is definitely a sticking point for us as we get near the post-season. We have to improve constantly.”
Fishers is 15-5 and plays at Noblesville at 7 p.m. tonight, while Southeastern will host Noblesville on Thursday.
Sheridan split its early-week matches, beating Christel House Academy on Monday and falling to Rossville on Tuesday.
The Blackhawks beat Christel House 25-13, 25-9, 25-6, hitting a season-high 29 aces. Lillie Dickerson led Sheridan with 22 total service points, including 11 aces. Taylor Bates served six aces, with Emma Went Jacquellynne Bates and Kaiden Wilson each hitting three. Allie Delph served two aces and Lilly Chesney hit one.
Delph hit 10 kills for the ‘Hawks, followed by Wilson with eight, Dickerson with four and Jacquellynne Bates with three. Taylor Bates handed out 16 assists.
On defense, Delph, Chesney and Dickerson each made one block. Sierra Duke and Taylor Bates both collected two digs, while Kayla Beahrs, Jacquellynne Bates and Dickerson each had one dig.
Sheridan lost to Rossville in four sets, 25-17, 25-12, 18-25, 25-23. Went had 12 digs, with Jacquellynne Bates adding seven digs, five kills and three aces. Delph hit 14 kills and collected nine digs.
Wilson hit seven kills and made two solo blocks, while Taylor Bates handed out 28 assists to go with nine digs, one solo block and one block assist. Dickerson had four kills and three block assists, while Payton Warren spiked three kills and made two block assists.
Chesney had one solo block and one block assist, and Duke collected seven digs.
In junior varsity matches, the ‘Hawks beat Christel House 25-22, 25-13. Claudia Headlee had seven aces, Chesney served three and Kendra Blankenship hit two. Chesney had four kills, followed by Blankenship with three, Headlee with two and Makaylee Wilson with two. Hailey Curry handed out six assists, while Wilson had five digs and Curry had four.
Sheridan’s JV fell to Rossville 25-18, 24-25, 15-10. Wilson made five digs and also had two aces and two kills. Laney Inman served two aces, Beahrs had eight digs, Chesney had eight digs and five assists, Curry contributed five digs, four assists and two kills, while Blankenship and Valerie Adams both hit three kills.
The Blackhawks varsity plays tonight at Traders Point Christian Academy.
Carmel won a four-set match over Pike on Tuesday, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 25-10.
Macarty McQueen had a good all-around game with 12 digs, 11 kills and three blocks. Savanna Rogers added 11 kills and six digs, while Caroline Yuska hit 10 kills and made one block. Ella Bostic dished out 44 assists and served three aces.
Westfield beat Noblesville 25-11, 25-17, 28-26 in a Monday all-county match.
The Shamrocks play at Cathedral tonight, while the Millers host Fishers.