By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The last time the Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team played McCutcheon was the first game of the 2022 regular season.
The Mavericks beat the Royals in four sets. Since then, Southeastern has done nothing but win. On Saturday, the Royals got their biggest win in several years, avenging that loss to McCutcheon by beating the Mavericks in four sets to win the Noblesville regional championship.
After a shaky first set, Southeastern got stronger as the match went on, eventually winning 16-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-19. The Royals won their third regional championship in program history (the other two were in 2015 and 2019), and also dethroned last year’s Class 4A state champions.
Southeastern is now 31-1 and will play Lake Central in the 4A north semi-state next Saturday at Frankfort. The match will start around 2:30 p.m., after the 2A north semi-state between Andrean and Wapahani.
“We didn’t expect a three-set match,” said HSE coach Jason Young. “We expected four or five. We talked about, the score doesn’t matter. It’s just one-nothing, and just go back to work.”
The Mavericks jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first set, eventually expanding their lead to 18-9 and holding on to that margin from there. The Royals got it together in the second set, taking an early 4-2 lead thanks to kills from Lauren Harden and Avery Hobson.
McCutcheon came back to lead 8-6 early in the set. The Mavericks’ Purdue-bound Chloe Chicoine was her usual dominant self, pounding the ball on the corners. But Southeastern hung in there, and used two Harden kills to take the lead back at 11-9.
“The middle of set two, it was back and forth,” said Young. The coach said that “it was at that moment that we finally flipped the switch and just started playing a bit differently and getting after it and doing what we do, which is serve the ball tough, pass the ball tough and be big at the net.”
It seemed like everybody was getting in the act. Hobson, Tiffany Snook and Breonna Goss all hit kills during the second set. That timely offense helped the Royals to weather any storms by the Mavericks, who led 17-15 midway through the set.
“We’ve been growing more and more as a team,” said Goss, who credited “team bonding and being together” with HSE’s success.
“I think we just changed our mentality,” said Snook. “We realized that we weren’t going to just win this and we actually had to earn it.”
McCutcheon led 18-17, but the Royals took off on a 6-0 run that included an ace by Macy Hinshaw and a block by Lindsey Mangelson. Southeastern led 23-18 at that point, and eventually ran out the set.
The Mavericks took an early lead in the third set, going up 8-7 early. Madison Evett stepped up with back-to-back kills to push the Royals up 9-8. After that, Southeastern never trailed in the match again.
The Royals steadily added to their lead in that set, with a three-point run moving them ahead 14-10. Mangelson punched down a kill, Hinshaw served another ace, then Goss and Harden teamed for a block. Another three-point run put HSE up 23-16, with Snook spiking a kill, Evett and Goss making a block. Goss finished the set strong, putting down back-to-back kills to give Southeastern the set.
Southeastern’s Breonna Goss played strong at the net with six block assists. (Kirk Green)
Harden and Snook both made seven block assists, while Goss had six for the game. Goss said her main focus was “to slow down Chloe and just get touches on all of her hits.”
Now that they had control of the match, the Royals began sprinting to the finish line. Southeastern roared out to a 12-4 lead in the fourth set, with Hobson, Snook, Evett and Mangelson all hitting kills. McCutcheon made a last stand to cut HSE’s advantage to 12-9, but Evett stopped that with a kill. Goss then made a block, and the Royals were up 14-9. Southeastern’s stayed between four and eight points until the end of the match, which Goss finished with a kill.
Hobson led the offense with 14 kills, while Harden put down 11 kills. The Royals’ offense was incredibly balanced: Mangelson and Goss both had nine kills, while Snook hit five. Hinshaw dished out 25 assists, in addition to hitting a kill and serving two aces. Ava Hunter handed out 23 assists. Libero Sophie Ledbetter collected 22 digs, while Hobson had 13 digs.
Southeastern advanced to the championship match by sweeping Fort Wayne Carroll in the semi-finals, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20. After easily winning the first set, the Royals steadily pulled away from the Chargers in the second set. A Sophie Ledbetter ace gave Southeastern a 4-1 lead early in the set.
Back-to-back kills by Lauren Harden and Madison Evett pushed HSE ahead 13-7, then Avery Hobson put down a pair of kills to give the Royals a 17-8 lead. Breonna Goss spiked a kill to give Southeastern a handful of set points at 24-13. Carroll put up some resistance by saving five set points, but a Harden kill finished the set.
The Chargers used that momentum to take leads of 4-1, then 9-6 in the third set. The Royals won four consecutive points to lead 10-9. Evett hit a kill, teamed with Goss for a block, then Tiffany Snook served an ace.
Southeastern led 14-11 before Carroll won four straight points for a 15-14 lead. But the Royals made a 4-0 run of their own, including a Ledbetter ace and a Harden kill.
That put HSE ahead 18-15, and the Royals held on to the lead from there. Southeastern finished by winning the last four points of the match. Evett started the run with a block, then Goss took over with a block, followed by a kill to set up match point. The Royals only needed one to clinch the match.
Harden led the hitting with 13 kills, followed by Hobson with nine. Macy Hinshaw handed out 19 assists, followed by Ava Hunter with 14. Tiffany Snook totaled six block assists. Ledbetter collected 20 digs.
Golden Eagles reach final
The Guerin Catholic volleyball team made it to the championship match of the Class 3A Monrovia regional on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles beat Speedway 25-16, 25-10, 25-14 in the semi-finals, then fell to Western Boone 25-9, 25-10, 25-18 in the championship. Guerin Catholic finished its season with a 16-18 record.