The young players on the Hamilton Heights volleyball team are growing up.
The Huskies showcased their talent and maturity at The Mill on Tuesday, where they outlasted host Noblesville in a five-set epic. Heights won 25-27, 25-16, 25-27, 25-21, 15-13. The victory improved the Huskies’ record to 7-4 for the season.
“It’s a great win for our program and for us,” said Heights coach Steve Ward.
Just to get into the fifth set, the Huskies had to make a comeback in the fourth set. The Millers led 21-18, putting them four points from victory. But Heights won the next seven points to force a fifth set. Jordan Fryman served aces on each of the last two points.
The fifth set was a battle early. Bella Hines served a pair of aces to put Noblesville up 4-3, then the Millers led 5-4. But Fryman took over again, smashing three kills during a run of four straight points. That put the Huskies up 8-5 and they never trailed again.
“She’s a leader,” said Ward. “She’s a dynamic player that we can get looks for on the outside, middle and the right side. She does a good job of putting the ball down when she gets it.”
Heights won the match when Fryman and Kelsey Smith teamed up for a successful block. Fryman had seven blocks for the game.
On offense, Fryman hit 18 kills, while Lexi Hayden put down 13. Smith dished out 46 assists and Jillian Osswald collected 24 digs.
The Huskies’ service was strong as well. Fryman served four aces and Lauren Lewis hit three.
“When you start playing these bigger schools and doing things, you got to have tough serves,” said Ward. “With those older girls that we have, the three juniors and the seniors, they really helped out.”
Noblesville was playing its second match in two days, after taking on Yorktown Monday. Rose Crist had a big game with 22 kills and 16 digs. Ella Peter hit 11 kills and made five blocks, while Ava Harris had nine kills.
Riley Branch handed out 56 assists and also collected 15 digs. Diana Cox had 17 digs, while Hines and Gabby Weihe both served four aces.
“Heights is a good team and it’s a different Heights than we’ve seen, and we just didn’t have an answer tonight for that,” said Millers coach Annie Phillips. “We played not to make a mistake versus to win the game. We didn’t quite control the out-of-system play like we needed to. We were out of system 85, 90 percent of the time and we needed to better control the out-of-system play.”
Noblesville, now 5-4 for the season, fell to Yorktown 25-16, 25-10, 25-15 on Monday. Crist had nine kills. Cox made nine digs and Weihe made four blocks. Harris and Peter both had three blocks. Branch dished out 14 assists.
Noblesville’s Gabby Weihe (10) goes up to make an attack during the Millers’ volleyball match with Hamilton Heights. (Kirk Green)