By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team has built a long list of accomplishments over the past few years, but there’s one thing the Royals hadn’t done yet: Defend a sectional championship.
Southeastern finally added that to its list on Saturday. The host Royals made it back-to-back Class 4A Sectional 8 titles, defeating rival Fishers in four sets, 25-15, 30-32, 25-11, 25-12 in the championship match.
“This is the first time we’ve ever repeated as sectional champions,” said Southeastern coach Jason Young. “That’s a big deal.”
Young praised his senior class and the leadership it showed. That characteristic came through after the Royals dropped a marathon second set, in which both teams held multiple set points. Young said things could easily go “the wrong way” for his team, but said his players “responded the right way and just threw down the throttle, and that was big.”
Southeastern controlled the first set, at one point leading 13-5 midway through the set. The Tigers made a run to get within 16-11, but the Royals used their own run of five straight points to jump ahead 21-11. Delaney Garner served two aces and Lauren Harden hit a kill during that time.
The second set was much tighter. After a close early part of the set, Fishers seemed to have control by the middle stages, at one point leading 17-11. Ava Vickers helped out with a kill, solo block and block assists, while Jada Allen and Camryn Haworth both hit kills as well.
Southeastern came back to tie the set at 21-21; that run included aces by Taylor Lauri and Garner. Allen hit a kill to set up two set points for the Tigers at 24-22, but Harden erased those with a kill and an ace.
Fishers would hold seven set points over the next few minutes, while the Royals had two set points. Both teams stepped up with quality hitting during the extended part of the set. For example, with her team down 26-25, the Tigers’ Emily Waldrop nailed back-to-back kills to get Fishers up 27-26. The back and forth continued from there until, on the Tigers’ seventh set point, Allen smashed a kill to give Fishers the second set.
The Royals had to respond, and did so in a big way. Southeastern roared out to an 18-3 lead in the third set. Lovie Wallace helped out with two kills during the early part of the run. The Royals also got their service going, which Young believes was key.
“We were not serving with enough service pressure, and losing that second set, I think the sense of urgency went up tremendously,” said Young. “When we lost that second set, I think we dialed it in and decided that we were going to be a little bit different, and the serving game improved dramatically.”
The big lead carried Southeastern through, as it was able to weather some Fishers resistance at the end of the set. Carly Mills, the Royals’ Indiana University-bound libero, said that after the second set, the team put it in the past.
“We want to win this, we got to look forward,” said Mills. “We can’t think about, ‘Oh, we just lost a really close game.’ We gave it our all. We fought for that set and we lost. So, now we have the next one and we got to just finish it right then and right there.”
The Tigers continued to play it close in the fourth set, staying within 7-6 after Waldrop hit a kill. But the Royals took over after that, winning eight of the next nine points to build a 15-7 lead. Garner was responsible for the first three points of the run, hitting a kill and then making two blocks. The Tigers stayed within 17-10 late in the set, but Southeastern finished the match in style, winning eight of the next 10 points.
Wallace hit two kills as part of the run, while Harden smacked another ace. Emily Weber assisted on back-to-back blocks, teaming with Wallace for one and Garner for another. Garner got the last hit of the game, as she made the winning kill on match point.
Garner totaled 17 kills for the Royals, with Wallace hitting 11. Avery Hobson and Harden both spiked 10 kills each. Weber handed out 19 assists while Olivia Phillips dished out 16. Garner and Harden both served three aces.
Wallace finished the game with five block assists. Carly Mills collected 26 digs, with Harden and Emi Robinson each getting 10.
Waldrop and Allen both hit 14 kills for the Tigers against HSE. Haworth dished out 39 assists. On defense, Samantha Perdue made 13 digs, while Ava Vickers totaled three blocks. After the match, Fishers coach Steven Peek praised his seniors, who were true leaders for the team.
“We have eight fantastic seniors who have forever raised the bar in this program,” said Tigers. Waldrop, Allen, Haworth and Mikayla Christiansen were among the seniors that played for Fishers this season and helped it to a 19-8 record. Other seniors were Shelby Settles, Olivia Lux, Jill Snyder and Grace Dunnuck.
“Step by step, this program, this school has been built by coaches before me and kids before me,” said Peek. “We’re thankful for what they did and I think we’re always going to be thankful for the eight seniors that we had in this program this year. We went to three straight sectional finals. We’re going to try to make it four next year.”
Southeastern is 24-0 for the season and will play next Saturday at the Noblesville regional. The Royals will play Homestead in the first semi-final, which begins at 10 a.m. McCutcheon and Fort Wayne Carroll play in the second semi-final, scheduled for noon. The championship match is set for 7 p.m.
In semi-final matches, Fishers beat Zionsville 25-23, 25-21, 25-21. Waldrop smacked 22 kills in that match, followed by Allen with 16. Haworth handed out 45 assists and had 12 digs; Perdue collected 15 digs. Vickers made six blocks, and Haworth and Christiansen had three each.
Meanwhile, HSE beat Westfield 25-22, 25-16, 25-21. Harden hit 10 kills in that match. Mills served five aces and collected 11 digs. Robinson had 14 digs and Taylor Lauri had 12 digs. Garner had five blocks. Weber handed out 16 assists and Phillips dished out 13.
OTHER SECTIONALS
In Class 3A Sectional 27 at Bishop Chatard, Guerin Catholic dropped a four-set match to Brebeuf Jesuit, 25-17, 26-28, 25-17, 25-21 in the first semi-final. In the second semi-final, Hamilton Heights was edged out in five sets by the host Trojans, 17-25, 25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 15-12.
Sheridan competed in Class 2A Sectional 43 at Western Boone, falling to the host Stars 25-14, 25-8, 25-12. Allie Delph had nine digs, seven kills and one ace, while Lillie Dickerson also served one ace. Emma Went had seven digs and two kills, Kaiden Wilson hit two kills, Taylor Bates dished out 11 assists and Jacquellynne Bates collected seven digs.
“The Sheridan volleyball coaching staff wants to thank the seniors for all of their hard work and dedication over the years and wish them well in their future endeavors,” said Blackhawks coach Melissa Jump.