The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team is one match away from returning to the IHSAA state finals.
The Royals will travel to Frankfort on Saturday to make that last step to Worthen Arena. Southeastern will take on Lake Central for the Class 4A north semi-state championship; that match begins around 2:30 p.m., following the conclusion of the 2A north semi-state game between Andrean and Wapahani.
The Indians will enter the semi-state match with a 28-9 record. Lake Central started the season 1-3, including losses to Wapahani and tough 4A teams Brownsburg and Cathedral. But the Indians rebounded to win their next seven matches, and have had a successful campaign since.
Lake Central began the post-season with a win at the Munster sectional, sweeping Hammond Central (25-9, 25-11, 25-17) and Merrillville (25-13, 25-18, 25-17) in the first two rounds before beating Munster in a four-set championship, 25-14, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15.
That sent the Indians to the La Porte regional. Lake Central needed four sets to win both of their matches, beating Crown Point 26-28, 25-20, 25-13, 25-21 in the semi-final and Warsaw 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 25-17 in the championship match.
Senior Katia Nikolic leads the LC offense with 306 kills, averaging 2.8 per set. Junior Milica Tomic has handed out 739 assists, while senior Katelyn Ruse is on top of the serving list with 80 aces. On defense, junior Brooke Tinberg has 385 digs, averaging 11.0 per match, while senior Mila Petkovic is on top of the blocking with 32 for the season.
Southeastern is 32-1 for the season. The Royals’ only loss was in their season opener, in four sets to McCutcheon. Since then, Southeastern has been on a tear, winning 32 matches while only dropping five sets during that win streak.
The Royals hosted Sectional 8, and won without dropping a set by beating Carmel in the first round (25-18, 25-17, 25-18), Westfield in the semi-finals (25-16, 25-11, 25-12) and Fishers in the championship (25-19, 25-12, 25-12). Southeastern then went to The Mill for the Noblesville regional, sweeping Fort Wayne Carroll in the semi-finals 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 before avenging that loss to McCutcheon with a four-set championship victory over the Mavericks, 16-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-19.
Senior Avery Hobson, a Duquesne commit, has been outstanding on the offense with 405 kills, an average of 4.1 per set. Junior Lauren Harden, a Florida commit, has also been strong with 306 kills, 3.1 per set. Junior Macy Hinshaw has handed out 682 assists, with sophomore Avery Hunter dishing out 410 assists for the season.
Junior Sophie Ledbetter leads the service aces category with 48, followed by sophomore Kaylyn Christy with 45. On defense, junior Breonna Goss, a Duke commit, has been unstoppable with 113 total blocks (16 solo, 97 assists). Ledbetter leads the digs with 427, or 13.3 per match.