By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
On Saturday, the Noblesville volleyball team will do something it has waited a long time to do: Play in a regional.
The Millers broke a 15-year drought by winning their own sectional last weekend. Their reward was a nice trophy, and a chance to play in the Muncie Central regional, which is arguably the toughest of the four regional sites in Indiana.
How tough? Go by the rankings. Indiana volleyball teams are using the MaxPreps computer rankings this season, and all four of the teams playing at the Muncie Fieldhouse are rated in the top 15. Noblesville is 13th and opens the day at 10 a.m. by playing No. 10 Fort Wayne Carroll. Following that is a match between No. 1 Yorktown and No. 4 Zionsville. The championship is set for 7 p.m.
While the Millers may be the underdog in Muncie, winning their own sectional proved that they can play with the big schools.
“I think that we need to realize that we’re there for a reason,” said senior libero Brenna Everingham. “We’ve worked hard and we have talent. We just really need to play with confidence and not feel like we’re the odd man out.”
The Chargers’ top hitters are experienced: Senior Arianna Bolinger has hit 364 kills, with junior Jordan Martin putting down 276 kills. Another senior, Makaela Lochmueller has 229 kills for the season.
Bolinger has served 71 aces, with Lochmueller making 84 blocks for the season. On defense, senior Ellee Ruskaup has collected 403 digs. Carroll’s setter is a freshman, Taya Haffner, and she has dished out 1003 assists for the year.
Noblesville has quite a few solid players as well. Sophomore Lexi Almodovar has spiked 508 kills for the season, with seniors Alexa Roberts and Emily Kiser hitting 249 and 207 kills respectively.
“Being outside, you get bad balls, you get good balls,” said Roberts on her role as an outside hitter. Roberts noted that there are several pieces of information a hitter has to process when she’s going up for a ball: 1) Know your shots, 2) Know what’s open, 3) Listen to your teammates behind you – “it’s a lot going through your head,” said Roberts.
“When I go up, I think ‘I’m going to get this kill, whether it’s a shot or whether it’s a hard ball driven to the ground, and I have to do it for my teammates,'” said Roberts.
Kiser has been a force at the net, with 70 blocks. Seniors Grace Harris and Lexie Bowler have 48 and 38 blocks respectively. Kiser said when it comes to blocking, Noblesville coach Steve Hawthorne gives his team an easy job description.
“He wants us to terminate the ball,” said Kiser. “He’s pretty much saying ‘Make it hit the ground.’ That’s pretty much my mindset. Or at least slow down the ball to help out my teammates.”
As for serving, Almodovar leads that category too, with 49 aces. Senior Stephanie Meysembourg is right behind with 48 aces, and Everingham has served up 47.
Everingham has 548 digs to her credit, with Almodovar collecting 329 for the season. Senior Maddie Hine has handed out 951 assists.
Noblesville’s last appearance at a volleyball regional was at Center Grove back on Nov. 2, 2002. That season was the first for rally scoring in the IHSAA after years of “side-out” scoring. In that format, teams played best two out of three sets to 15 points, but only the team that was serving could score.
Teams played to 21 points in the first season of rally scoring, but they had to win the set by two points. The Millers defeated Center Grove 20-22, 21-18, 21-18, 23-21 in their semi-final, then lost to Cathedral 21-9, 21-12, 21-15 in the championship.
A celebration 15 years in the making: The Noblesville volleyball team reacts after winning match point to claim their own sectional last weekend at The Mill. The Millers will play in the Muncie Central regional this Saturday, taking on Fort Wayne Carroll in the first semi-final at 10 a.m. (Kirk Green)
Noblesville’s Maddie Hine (7) and Lexie Bowler (23) go up to make a block. (Kirk Green)