The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team was pushed a little during its all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference match against Westfield Wednesday at The Rock.
After the Royals took the first two sets, the Shamrocks played well to grab the third set. But Southeastern came rampaging back after that, running away with the fourth set to get a 25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 25-8 victory.
“They played a remarkable third set,” said Royals coach Jason Young. “Give a lot of credit to Westfield for battling. It woke us up a little bit. I think we were angry. A good angry, if that makes sense. We took it up and were more determined to be cleaner and more aggressive offensively. I challenged my attackers to fire away and they did, and they made that adjustment. I thought our blocking got better in that set, which was able to neutralize some of their attack.”
Southeastern was powered by its big hitters. Avery Hobson put down 13 kills, Lauren Harden hit 12 kills and Lovie Wallace had 11 kills. Emily Weber dished out 26 assists and Macy Hinshaw handed out 22 assists. On defense, Meghan Slaninka collected 17 digs and Jada Berg had 12 digs.
For Westfield, Dani Schade hit nine kills, while Lucy Muntel had eight kills. Stella Terpening made three blocks. Mallory Weber made 15 digs and Logan Mapes handed out 25 assists, putting her over the 1,000 assist mark for her career.
Westfield coach Sandra Burks credited Abby Heck for giving her team “a little bit of a spark in the right direction. She went in and really started taking that ball down the line on the right side. I thought that opened us up a little bit and gave us another option.
“But we were just really proud of the girls because the things that we’ve been working on in practice and the scout that we had set up for HSE, they did a really good job of following it tonight. Give credit to HSE where it’s due. They have some incredible players.”
Southeastern is 4-0 in conference play and 13-2 overall. The Royals are off until next Thursday, Sept. 23, when they play Zionsville in another HCC match. The Shamrocks are 2-1 in the conference and 7-9 overall, and host Franklin Central on Monday for another HCC contest.