Volleyball: Millers get past Huskies in five sets

The Noblesville and Hamilton Heights volleyball teams got together for an all-county match at the Huskies’ gym on Tuesday, with the Millers winning in five sets, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-9.
It was a great match for the fans, and both teams got something out of it as well. For Noblesville, it was a fifth consecutive win, and it came against a team that was coming into Tuesday with a 10-2 record.
“They’ve got a good front row and their setter’s really strong,” said Millers coach Annie Phillips. She knew it would not be an easy match. The Huskies proved it by rebounding to take the second set after Noblesville won the first set; then Heights jumped ahead 11-6 in the third set after the score was tied at 5-5. McKinely Rose and Lauren Lewis both hit kills and Lexi Hayden served an ace.
The Millers stormed back to lead 19-13. Noblesville’s serving was beginning to heat up, as Ella Peter and Anna Elkin both hit aces. Ava Harris helped out with a net tip. The Millers clinched the set when Aubrey Stitcher hit a kill.
In the fourth set, the Huskies took antoher early lead at 9-5, and then extended it to 13-7 after Rose put down a kill. Rose would later hit an ace to give Heights its biggest lead of the set at 22-13. A kill by Jordan Fryman tied the match at two sets all.
Noblesville took the early lead in the fifth set thanks to its serving. Elkin smacked back-to-back aces to put the Millers ahead 4-1.
“She served many, many runs tonight,” said Phillips. “She was really good on the service line.”
The Huskies kept battling and were still within 9-8 in the middle of the set, but Noblesville used a string of five straight points to take control. A Harris kill set up match point, and the Millers won seconds later.
Phillips credited Harris with “mixing up shots, because a kill’s a kill, whether it’s a tip or a kill down the line. We really worked tonight on making that setter play defense and taking them out of system, and I thought tonight we were able to hit a few more shots than we have been.”
“They played hard,” said Heights coach Steve Ward of his team. He said that his team had a hard time on the block because of the play of the Millers’ front row – “They were a little better than us on the net tonight,” said Ward.
Phillips said that after Noblesville’s busy weekend – the Millers won their own invitational on Saturday – the team didn’t have much time to make adjustments, “and mentally we weren’t quite as strong as we have been for this game,” she said.
“But I thought they came out in the fifth set and they truly won that set,” said Phillips. “They fought, they pushed runs, they stayed ahead the whole time, which is what they needed to do. And they were mentally capable of taking that fifth set.”
Harris finished with 13 kills, followed by Gabby Weihe with 12 kills and three blocks. Elkin served five aces.
The Huskies dropped to 10-3, having played some good competition during the season. Heights has beaten teams such as Zionsville in four sets, and made a comeback against New Palestine, beating the Dragons in five sets.
“The team is gritty,” said Ward. “We fight hard. We play well. We need to play this competition for our conference championship and for our sectionals.”
Complete stats were unavailable at press time, but Ward said that Kelsey Smith had a good night as setter, and Rose was solid as the right side hitter.
Noblesville is now 8-4 for the season and plays a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game at Zionsville on Thursday. Heights plays at Greenfield-Central tonight.

Carmel had a nice start to the week, sweeping two matches.
On Monday, the Greyhounds beat Westfield 25-26, 25-13, 25-13. Ella Brooks hit 10 kills, followed by Macarty McQueen with six, Caroline Yuska and Ella Bostic with five each and Lauren Evans with two. Brooks and Yuska both made two blocks, and Brooks, Lauren Dossey and Bostic all served two aces.
Evans hit three aces and made six digs. Dossey led the digs with 10, while McQueen collected three digs. Bostic dished out 31 assists.
Emma Dodson, Abby Heck and Stella Terpening each hit four kills for the Shamrocks. Mallory Weber made 10 digs and Logan Mapes handed out 14 assists. Westfield is 7-8 and hosts Franklin Central in a Monday HCC match.
On Tuesday, Carmel traveled to Lawrence North and swept the Metropolitan Conference match 25-23, 25-16, 25-16. The ‘Hounds are unbeaten in the MIC at 4-0.
Brooks and McQueen both put down 11 kills, while Yuska hit six kills. Brooks had 22 digs, followed by Evans with 13, Bostic with six and McQueen with four.
Brooks and Bostic each served four aces, with Evans serving one ace. Yuska had four blocks and McQueen had two. Bostic handed out 33 assists.
Carmel coach Kristine Deem said her team “made some changes” for the match, trying out different things and working with its strengths.
“Anytime that we have played Lawrence North, they’ve always put up a good fight,” said Deem. “Especially in their home gym. I think that’s something that has been difficult for us, knowing that they are ready to battle it out and figuring out how to respond to that and try to respond to that quickly. We tried to talk about being intentional and creating a sense of urgency right from the jump, and I think that’s what we were able to do tonight.”
The Greyhounds are 13-5 and host Warren Central Thursday in another MIC match.

Sheridan dropped a pair of matches to start the week.
The Blackhawks lost at Tipton Monday, 25-2, 25-10, 25-11. Claudia Headlee, Lexi Lewin, Taylor Bates and Nova Cross all served one ace. Kaiden Wilson hit four kills, Cross handed out three assists and Jacquellynne Bates collected 15 digs.
On Tuesday, Sheridan dropped an away match at Frankfort 25-14, 25-16, 25-11. Payton Warren and Taylor Bates both hit one ace, with Taylor Bates also adding 10 digs and four kills. Kenzie Garner put down three kills and Headlee made nine digs. Cross had four assists and two kills, and Jacquellynne Bates had 19 digs.
The Blackhawks’ junior varsity beat Frankfort in three sets for its first win of the season.
Sheridan hosts Delphi Thursday in a Hoosier Heartland Conference and Senior Night match.