Sectional volleyball play began for Hamilton County teams on Thursday.
At Class 4A Sectional 8, host Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers both advanced to the Saturday morning semi-finals with straight-set victories. The Tigers went first, sweeping Zionsville 25-21, 25-17, 25-19.
“I think a lot of our message coming in was focused on things that we can control, that we got to get better at,” said Fishers coach Steven Peek. “One of those things is serving. We had probably our best serving match of the night. “Just the look of the ball, the pace of it, the way that we’re thinking and approaching things aggressively with confidence. Those are the types of things we’re talking about.”
The Tigers improved to 18-8 for the season and play Noblesville in the first semi-final, which starts at 11 a.m.
The Royals, ranked No. 1 in 4A, beat Carmel 25-18, 25-17, 25-18. Southeastern improved its record to 28-1 for the season.
“What we’ve been focused on all year is just playing our base game,” said Royals coach Jason Young. “That’s gotten us out of a lot of trouble, is staying true to who we are.”
Young said he thought his team was “very aggressive” and that his setters did “an unbelievable job” of distributing the ball evenly.
Avery Hobson led Southeastern’s hitting with 13 kills, followed by Lindsey Mangelson with 10, Lauren Harden with nine and Breonna Goss with five. The Royals take on Westfield at 12:30 p.m. in the second semi-final.
“For us, I think it’s just been about getting used to playing with each other and getting the lineup right and then just getting into the flow,” said Young.
Carmel finished its season 22-10.
“Our kids knew they were just in for a fight, and you know what? I’m super proud of them because there was no ounce of quit in us tonight,” said Greyhounds coach Kristine Deem. “They just kept fighting for every single point that we earned.”
The Carmel team comes together after a point. (Kirk Green)
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Guerin Catholic, the host of Class 3A Sectional 27 this year, swept Herron 25-15, 25-12, 25-9 in a first-round match on Thursday.
The Golden Eagles are 13-17 and host Shortridge at 11 a.m. Saturday in the first semi-final match. Hamilton Heights will play Bishop Chatard in the second semi-final, which starts around 12:30 p.m.
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University dropped a straight-set match to Cascade, 25-10, 25-9, 25-11 in the first round of Class 2A Sectional 43 on Thursday.
The Cadets will play Sheridan in the second Saturday semi-final, which will start around 12:30 p.m. The Trailblazers finished their season 8-13.