The Hamilton Southeastern volleyball team won its Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener in thrilling fashion Thursday, beating Brownsburg 23-25, 25-19, 25-27, 25-16, 15-7 in a home match.
Noblesville’s Ava Nichols (left) and Emily Kiser go up for a block. (Kent Graham)
Meredith Phillips had 20 kills on the evening for the Royals, while her sister Olivia Phillips had 61 assists. Defensively a pair of Royals had a huge night: Freshman Carly Mills nearly broke a school record with 32 digs and Senior Grace Kane tied the record with 33 digs.
“I was thrilled to get a conference win against a tough opponent,” said HSE coach Jason Young. “This is our first conference win over Brownsburg since 2012.”
The Royals are now 6-2 for the season and host Providence and Floyd Central for the North vs. South showdown on Saturday.
Westfield improved to 3-2 Thursday after sweeping Southport 25-8, 25-23, 25-10.
The Shamrocks were led by were led by Kenzi Daffinee with 10 kills. Ellary Detamore had 15 digs. Caroline Sinicki finished with seven aces and 22 assists.
Fishers dropped its first match of the year on Thursday, falling to undefeated Zionsville in four sets, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, in the Tigers’ HCC opener.
Rose Duffy handed out 39 assists for Fishers, which hit 0.264 for the night. Duffy also had 13 digs. Mallory Hernandez put down 14 kills, while Audrey Haworth hit 11 kills.
The Tigers are 7-1, while the Eagles are 4-0. Fishers travels to Anderson on Tuesday.
Hamilton Heights lost a five-set match to Northwestern on Thursday, 25-15, 12-25, 27-25, 20-25, 15-12.
Hannah Crist made 15 digs and spiked 10 kills, in addition to three blocks and one ace. Sydney Griffey scooped up 14 digs, hit five kills, served three aces and got one block. Ana Collar was all over the stat line with 21 digs, 18 assists, 13 kills, three blocks and two aces.
Noblesville suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday, being swept by Avon 25-9, 25-17, 25-22.
Claire Foster hit five kills for the Millers, who are now 4-1 for the season.