Southeastern takes on Castle with 4A trophy & perfect season on the line
The REPORTER
The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team has an opportunity to join some exclusive clubs on Saturday evening.
The Royals travel to Ball State University that night to play in the Class 4A state championship match. Top-ranked Southeastern will take on No. 5 Castle in the 4A final, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., following the state title matches in the other three classes.
The Royals won the 4A state title last year, beating Yorktown in four hard-fought sets. Southeastern is unbeaten for the year at 32-0, so the Royals will attempt to be the third school to go undefeated for a season. Yorktown did it twice in 2018 and 2020, while Cathedral was perfect in 2015.
Southeastern is also trying to become the first school to win back-to-back 4A state titles since Avon did so in 2012 and 2013. (New Castle won back-to-back 3A championships in 2017 and 2018, then moved up to 4A in 2019 and won state in that class.)
The last team left standing between the Royals and their goals is Castle. The Knights are 34-3 for the season and are making their seventh appearance at state. Castle was the 2021 4A state runner-up.
The Knights’ only losses have been to 3A state finalist Providence, Glenbard West (Ill.) and Terre Haute South. They cruised through the Jasper sectional, taking care of Evansville Central, Evansville Harrison and Evansville North in straight sets for their state-record 41st sectional championship. Castle holds the record for most consecutive sectional titles, winning 26 in a row between 1994 and 2019.
The Knights advanced to the Bloomington North regional, where they swept Franklin Community and No. 8 Center Grove to claim the program’s 10th title. Castle then played No. 3 Roncalli in the Jasper semi-state, winning in four sets.
Senior Katie Kopshever is the offensive leader for the Knights with 413 kills, averaging 11.2 per match. Sophomore Emma Bruggenschmidt has 251 kills. Castle has two capable setters in senior Megan Harpenau (535 assists) and junior Maya Joska (524 assists).
Kopshever also leads in digs with 278 for the season, with Bruggenschmidt getting 243 digs and Harpenau 241. Six-foot-two Junior Addisen Gallentine is the top blocker with 166, followed by 6-foot junior Emma Watson with 121 blocks.
Meanwhile, Southeastern is riding a 66-match win streak dating back to the second match of its 2022 season. The Royals have been dominant this year, only dropping four sets over their 32 matches. Only Yorktown and Cathedral took a set off HSE during the regular season.
Southeastern won the Zionsville sectional with sweeps of the host Eagles in the semifinals and No. 10 Noblesville in the championship. At the Homestead regional, the Royals swept Harrison in the semis, then battled with the host Spartans before prevailing in five sets. Southeastern then swept La Porte in the Frankfort semi-state to punch its ticket back to state.
The Royals’ offense is led by 6-foot-3 senior Lauren Harden, a Florida commit, who has put down 358 kills this season. Junior Lindsey Mangelson, at 6-foot-2, has 339 kills this year. Senior Macy Hinshaw, headed to Santa Clara, has 595 assists, while junior Ava Hunter has dished out 495 assists.
On defense, senior Ball State commit Sophie Ledbetter has 416 digs, one of five Royals with at least 100 digs during the season. Six-foot senior Breonna Goss, headed to Duke, leads the blocks with 86. Six-foot-two senior Tiffany Snook, committed to Memphis, has 63 blocks.