By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – An all-county volleyball match went Carmel’s way on Wednesday, with the Greyhounds beating Noblesville in four sets at the Eric Clark Activity Center.
Carmel won 25-20, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22. After splitting the first two sets, the Greyhounds took a quick lead in the third set and held it all the way through. Carmel led 12-4 early in the set; Emily Waddell had two kills and a tip, while Avery Carroll served three aces during that run.
“Noblesville has had a really good year so far, so we knew that we had to perform and take care of our side before we did anything else,” said Greyhounds coach Kristine Deem.
A Carroll kill got Carmel ahead 16-7, and the Greyhounds’ lead stayed around that margin until Carmel won the set with another Carroll kill.
The fourth set was close all the way through. Riley Resmer hit a kill to put the Millers up 3-1, and a Gabby Wiehe kill gave Noblesville a 5-3 lead.
But Carmel jumped out on a 10-3 run, and that put the ‘Hounds ahead 13-8. Carmel never trailed after that, but the Millers continued to battle, with Wiehe and Anna Elkin hitting kills during the set.
Waddell, Lauren Evans and Carroll both stepped up for the Greyhounds, hitting several kills in the fourth set. Audrey Pickett’s kill set up match point at 24-21. Noblesville saved one on Wiehe’s successful block, but Carmel got the next point to take the match.
“There were some pieces where we needed to work on our discipline, where we didn’t expect, for whatever reason, them to continue to be aggressive,” said Deem. “But we got it together to continue to stay aggressive and finish out the match.”
Lauren Evans led the hitting with 19 kills, followed by Waddell with 15, Carroll with 10 and Pickett with nine. Emerson Evans handed out 47 assists. Carroll finished with four aces, while Emerson Evans had two aces and Lauren Dossey served one. On defense, Dossey collected 28 digs and Lauren Evans had 14. Pickett made four blocks and Emerson Evans had three.
Noblesville’s Diana Cox makes a dig during the match. (Kirk Green)
Wiehe led the Millers’ offense with 11 kills, while Madison Brown dished out 38 assists. Maddie Coates served three aces. Ava Rundle had 21 digs, Wiehe made four blocks and Riley Resmer had two blocks.
“They fought the whole entire time,” said Noblesville coach Annie Poulson. “I think that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the execution piece of it. We would execute one time, and then not the next two times, or we would wait to execute till the fourth time they did something. And we have to be able to execute earlier. We have to be able to respond earlier.”
Carmel improved to 14-7 with the win, and is off until Monday when it hosts Pike. The Millers are 15-4 and play a Hoosier Crossroads Conference match tonight at Franklin Central.