The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team won an all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference match with Noblesville Thursday night at The Mill.
The Royals won 17-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-11. The Millers started out the match with strong serving, which led them to the first-set win. But Southeastern took control in the final two sets.
“I felt like our ball control steadied out,” said Royals coach Jason Young. “In Set 1, they did a great job of serving the ball and we struggled in receive.”
Young estimated that his team got aced “six or seven times” in the first set.
“So to be able to rebound from that and just get our heads back together and just be calm and receive and do what we do, we generally are a very good passing team, so we settled ourselves down and just made plays,” said Young.
Carly Mills collected 18 digs and served three aces for the Royals, while Taylor Lauri picked up 10 digs. Abby Weber led the offense with 14 kills, with Grace Hunter hitting nine kills. Olivia Phillips handed out 15 assists, Emily Weber dished out 10 assists and Delaney Garner made seven blocks.
Southeastern is 19-4 and 6-0 in HCC play, giving the Royals at least a share of the conference championship. Southeastern finishes up its HCC schedule next Thursday at Franklin Central.
As for Noblesville, Lexie Almodovar had 14 kills, 13 assists, eight digs and four blocks. Rose Crist contributed 10 kills and three digs, while Ella Peter put down five kills and had two blocks.
Riley Branch had 17 assists and four aces, while Bella Hines hit three aces and two kills. Diana Cox collected 10 digs and served two aces. Olivia Gulley picked up seven digs.
“We served the ball extremely well and it kept them out of system,” said Millers coach Jill Almodovar about the first set.
Noblesville is 9-13 and 1-5 in the conference, and will play Brownsburg next Thursday.
Both teams will be in action Saturday at the North vs. South Showdown at Center Grove.
Westfield picked up a big HCC win over Avon Thursday at The Rock.
The Shamrocks won in five sets, 21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-10. Kenzie Daffinee led the Westfield offense with 17 kills and eight aces. Peighton Isley collected 24 digs, while Ellary Detamore had 20 digs. Anna Johnsey made seven blocks, with Katie Sweet getting six blocks.
The ‘Rocks are 2-3 in conference play and 17-8 overall. They will next play Tuesday at Hamilton Heights.
Carmel swept Bishop Chatard on Senior Night Thursday, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17.
Gabby Smith hit 10 kills, made four blocks and served one ace for the Greyhounds. Anne Lesure contributed 13 assists, nine digs, eight kills and two aces. Ella Bostic had 19 assists, four digs and one ace. Maria Zweig collected 12 digs and hit three aces, while Macarty McQueen had seven kills and two blocks.
Carmel is 20-9 for the season.
In an all-county match, Guerin Catholic beat Sheridan 25-9, 25-18, 25-12 on Thursday.
Allie Delph hit seven kills and three aces for the Blackhawks, with Becca Merritt and Lillie Dickerson both getting one solo block. Payton Warren had five digs and Taylor Bates handed out 13 assists.
In the junior varsity match, the Golden Eagles won 25-1, 25-9. Jacquellyne Bates and Kayla Beahrs each had four digs for Sheridan. Kaiden Wilson and Lexi Lewin both had one kill and Zoey Fisher had two assists.
The Golden Eagles are 5-15 for the season, while Sheridan is 6-21.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Olivia Phillips (25) makes a set as the Royals’ offense moves in during the Southeastern-Noblesville volleyball match Thursday at The Mill. (Kent Graham)
Sheridan’s Taylor Bates (right) had 13 assists for the Blackhawks during their Thursday match at Guerin Catholic. (Kirk Green)