By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Noblesville will host this year’s Class 4A Sectional 8 in volleyball, and The Mill saw a sneak preview of how exciting that sectional could be on Thursday.
The Millers hosted No. 9-ranked Hamilton Southeastern, with the Royals winning in four close sets: 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23. This was Southeastern’s 20th match win of the season.
“I knew it was going to be a battle going in,” said Royals coach Jason Young. “We’ve seen a lot of Noblesville. We watched the Center Grove match where they played them tough. They’re pretty battle-tested.
“Anytime we face a team in our conference on the road, it’s a battle,” said Young, who went on to say that this year’s Miller team is one of the best Noblesville teams he’s seen.
After being edged in the first set, Noblesville jumped ahead by as much as 15-9 in the second set, thanks to blocks from Lexie Almodovar and Emily Kiser. The Millers still led by 16-12 when HSE soared to a 7-0 run, taking a 19-16 lead. Meredith Phillips put down a pair of kills, and Lark Jones won a couple of points at the net.
The back-and-forth continued, with Noblesville leading 22-21 late in the set. The Royals went on another run to end it, though, with Olivia Phillips serving an ace on set point.
It was the Millers’ turn to make the big run in the third set, as they scored nine unanswered points to go from being down 11-9 to up 18-11, then 19-12. Noblesville’s blocking continued to be superb, and Almodovar and Claire Foster each hit kills.
Southeastern’s Bria King ended the run with a kill, and Taylor Shelton served up two aces to get the Royals back into it; they were within 21-19 late. Noblesville won the next point, but kills by Shelton helped Southeastern go ahead 24-23, match point.
Kiser took care of that, however: She made a net tip to save the match point, then yet another block to give the Millers set point, which they won to take the third set 26-24.
“The way that they played, they played hard,” said Young of Noblesville. “They brought some stuff up that I didn’t expect and they forced us to elevate our play. It was good to see us have another test.”
The fourth set was more of the same, except this time it was the Royals getting out to the lead early, then midway through the set. HSE led 14-8, then 18-12 after a Phillips kill, then 23-17.
The Millers cut that lead to 23-21, but King stepped up again, spiking another kill to give the Royals three more match points. Noblesville saved the first two before Phillips hit another kill to end the match.
Phillips put down 27 kills, with Shelton hitting 14 and King getting nine. Olivia Phillips handed out 45 assists. Jones served three aces and made 1.5 blocks, while Grace Kane scooped up 26 digs.
Almodovar finished the game with 21 kills. Alexa Roberts spiked 11 kills, with Kiser hitting nine kills and making an astounding seven blocks.
“That was probably the most fun I had coaching all season,” said Noblesville coach Steve Hawthorne. “The girls really came out there, played with a lot of heart, played hard every single point. We had some struggles in the beginning, but the girls executed well and we made some great adjustments and made it a competitive match. That’s the most competitive we’ve been against HSE since I’ve been here.”
Maddie Hine handed out 53 assists, while Brenna Everingham collected 24 digs. The Millers are 14-9 for the season.
Fishers, ranked No. 7 in 4A, beat Hamilton Heights in four sets, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 25-13 Thursday at eh Husky Dome.
Mallory Hernandez smacked 19 kills for the Tigers, with Audrey Haworth hitting 10. Rose Duffy handed out 41 assists, while Camryn Haworth served four aces.
Duffy and Hernandez both collected 12 digs, and Audrey Haworth had 11. Elizabeth Weeks made two blocks, with Hernandez and Duffy both getting 1.5.
Ana Collar hit 10 kills for Heights, and also scooped up 16 digs, dished out 10 assists and made four blocks. Hannah Crist helped out with 11 kills, five digs and four blocks. Tori Hayden had five kills, five blocks and five digs.
Carmel picked up a sweep over Bishop Chatard on Thursday, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20.
Mo Armstrong hit 15 kills for the Greyhounds, with Kam Kichefski putting down nine. Sophie Oliphant served seven aces and made 20 digs. Lauren Van Remortel dished out 40 assists.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Taylor Shelton (5) and Lark Jones (13) go up for a block during the Royals’ volleyball match with Noblesville Thursday at The Mill. (Kirk Green)
Noblesville’s Emily Kiser (33) makes a net tip during the Millers’ volleyball match with Hamilton Southeastern Thursday at The Mill. Kiser finished the game with seven blocks.
More images can be found at this website: https://capturephotographybydkirk.smugmug.com/HSE-at-Noblesville-V-VB-9282017/ (Kirk Green)