By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The Westfield volleyball team did a little bit of everything to win its home match over Pendleton Heights Thursday at CSI Gymnasium.
The Shamrocks swept the Arabians in a match that was tougher than the score looked: 25-5, 25-13, 25-22. Westfield used an incredible serving performance to run through the first set, cruised through the second set and came from behind to take the third set and the match.
“I think that shows our depth and I think it shows talent on our team,” said Westfield coach Emily Jackson. “We have a lot of young players, but we have a ton of talent, a ton of athleticism. There’s a lot of players that we can put in at different times against different opponents, and it’ll look different.”
The Shamrocks began the match with an ace by sophomore Kendyl Strack, which immediately set the tone. Freshman Brooke Neale served up three aces during a run that put Westfield up 7-1.
A kill by junior Audrey Bassett gave the Rocks the serve back leading 9-4. Sophomore Carsyn Comer stepped up and proceeded to serve the next 14 points, including one ace. Bassett, senior Stella Terpening and senior Izzy Jackson hit multiple kills as well.
“We always focus on serving in practice,” said Emily Jackson. “We do a lot of pressure serving where they have to be in tight situations, because that’s the one aspect of the game that they control themselves. We always do some serving, and I usually have them do it after they’ve done a high-intensity cardio-type drill where they have to control their breathing, refocus and go through their routine of serving.”
“We definitely worked on service a lot this week in practice after our game at Yorktown, so I think we definitely stepped that up today,” said Comer.
Pendleton began the second set with consecutive aces, and still led 4-2 early in the set. Westfield got the lead back with another Bassett kill and a Jackson kill got the Rocks up 11-9. They were able to run out the set from there, with Carson serving six consecutive points from 19-13 to take the set. Carson finished things off with an ace.
The Arabians broke out of an early 5-5 third-set tie with a run of five consecutive points, including three straight aces to start the run. Pendleton then led 17-12 in the middle of the set before Westfield started coming back. Sophomores Paige Rudolph and Audrey Davis all hit kills, as did Bassett, then senior Addie Hooper helped out with a couple of kills in the later part of the set. Terpening hit a kill on match point to clinch the win.
Bassett spiked 11 kills, with Rudolph and Comer both hitting nine. Neale totaled five aces and Comer served four. Jackson dished out 27 assists, while sophomore Emily Blevins handed out 10. Strack made 11 digs, with Neale and Rudolph both collecting 10.
Westfield is 2-1 for the season and plays at Trinity Lutheran on Saturday.
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Noblesville toughed out a five-set win on Wednesday, edging out Mount Vernon 19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13.
Chloe Macias put down 15 kills and hit six aces; both she and Madison Brown both had five total blocks (one solo block and four assists). Maggie Hall and Piper Endris each collected 12 digs, while Brown dished out 30 assists.
The Millers are 2-0 and host Pendleton Heights on Tuesday.
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Hamilton Heights swept an away match at Lebanon Wednesday, 25-13, 25-20, 25-14.
Emma Blanton and Macie Smith provided solid swings and blocks for the Huskies, who are unbeaten for the season at 6-0. Heights is next in action Saturday at the Western Boone Invitational.
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Sheridan swept Park Tudor on Thursday in a road match, 25-9, 25-22, 25-17.
Kenzie Garner hit 11 kills for the Blackhawks, with Trinity Parkin and Lainey Mendenhall both putting down four. Nova Cross and Parkin each served three aces, with Cross dishing out 15 assists and Adria Jump handing out seven.
Meredith Krupp made 15 digs, followed by Ali Pickard with 10, and Parkin and Garner with five each. Mendenhall, Jump and Garner all made one solo block and Pickard had a block assist.
Sheridan is 2-1 and plays a three-team tournament at Faith Christian on Saturday morning. The Blackhawks play Faith at 9 a.m. and Fountain Central at 10 a.m.
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Fishers split a pair of matches early this week.
The Tigers swept Lawrence Central 25-11, 26-24, 25-8 on Tuesday, but lost to McCutcheon 25-22, 25-27, 25-23, 25-21. Fishers is 2-1 and plays at the Plainfield Invitational on Saturday.
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Carmel was swept by Roncalli Wednesday, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16.
The Greyhounds are 0-2 and host their Round Robin Saturday morning.
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University fell to the Indy Metro Mustangs in four sets Tuesday, 25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 27-25.
Junior Sarah Roberts led the Trailblazers’ offense with 15 kills. Quinlan Litke and Leyla Ercan both served four aces; Litke made 27 digs, followed by Addison Wright and Ercan with 14 each. Wright dished out 29 assists.