HSE, Fishers advance to semi-finals with hard-fought sweeps
By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – As Fishers volleyball coach Steven Peek was going through the stats after his team won its first-round sectional match on Thursday, he noted something with regards to setter Margo Hernandez.
It seems that Hernandez, in addition to handing out a nice number of assists, also led the Tigers in kills. Peek was happy about that, though, as it confirmed the balance of the Fishers team during its match, a match the Tigers won in a hard-fought sweep over host Westfield, 25-16, 25-13, 25-19.
The Fishers-Westfield match was the second of two opening-round contests Thursday at The Rock. In the first match, Hamilton Southeastern beat Noblesville in another hard-fought sweep, 25-17, 25-13, 25-20. Both the Royals and the Tigers advanced to the Saturday morning semi-finals with their respective victories.
Southeastern used a big run late in the second set to take a two-set lead over the Millers. Noblesville came out blasting in the third set, scoring the first five points in a run that finished with a kill by Anna Elkin.
Lauren Harden ended the Millers’ run by hitting her own kill, and that started a 6-0 run for the Royals that included a pair of aces from Tiffany Snook. The match tightened for several points until the Royals scored three straight to go up 15-12.
Southeastern held the lead from that point forward. Avery Hobson joined Harden in having multiple kills during the latter stages of the set, and Emily Weber finished the match with a kill.
“I thought we played well,” said HSE coach Jason Young. “Anytime you’re playing and your season’s on the line, both teams are going to be scrappy. And I thought Noblesville did a really, really good job in their preparation for us.”
“I could tell we hadn’t played in a week,” said Young. “I felt like as the match wore on and we got better, I felt more and more comfortable. And I was really pleased with my senior leadership. I thought our setter Emily Weber did a fantastic job. When times got tight, she’s been there, done it so many times.”
Weber handed out 15 assists, while Macy Hinshaw dished out 14 assists. Hobson put down 12 kills, followed by Harden with 10 and Lovie Wallace with five. Emi Robinson and Meghan Slaninka both served three aces.
Ava Harris hit six kills for the Millers and also made two blocks. Gabby Weihe made three blocks. Riley Branch handed out 20 assists and collected 15 digs, while Diana Cox had nine digs.
“They came out tonight and they played hard the whole entire time,” said Noblesville coach Annie Phillips. “We had a lot of great defensive plays, our coverage was strong. We worked really hard on block and they did a great job of doing those things.”
The Millers finished their season with a 17-15 record. Phillips noted that her team took “multiple top 10 teams” to extended sets instead of getting swept.
“We fought and they played hard,” said Phillips. “I’m proud of the girls on the season.”
ALL FIRED UP
The Fishers-Westfield match featured fired-up play from both teams. The Shamrocks got out to a 7-3 lead in the first set, with Lucy Muntel hitting a pair of kills.
The Tigers came back after that, winning seven points in a row to take a 10-7 lead. Carsen Plew knocked down a kill during the run.
“I would say we ended well because we started well,” said Peek. “We were not careless. We were very focused. The girls did a great job. We’ve been emphasizing not only how we want to finish, but how we start. We got to realize that if you want to get to a certain goal, you have to start well and be good in the middle, too.”
Fishers made a six-point run during the middle of the set to go ahead 17-10, with Leslie Groff hitting a kill along the way. Groff would also hit the kill on set point to give the Tigers that first set.
The Shamrocks led 8-7 in the second set before Fishers took over, winning 18 of the next 23 points. Hernandez tied the match at 8-8 with a kill, then Plew served an ace and JaNyah Henderson hit a kill that put the Tigers up 10-8. Henderson also stepped up big time at the end of the set, smacking back-to-back kills to get Fishers to set point, then making a successful block to clinch the set.
The third set was the closest of the three. Fishers went up 6-2 early, but Westfield stormed back to take a 7-6 lead, helped by back-to-back aces from Chloe Sutake. The Tigers responded with their own four-point run; Plew’s kill gave the Tigers a 10-7 lead.
Plew later served back-to-back aces during another Fishers run, one that put the Tigers ahead 15-10. Fishers kept its lead between three and six points for the duration of the set.
Hernandez hit nine kills and set many more in motion, as she dished out 35 assists. Henderson and Ava Vickers each put down eight kills and made two blocks. Groff and Plew both hit six kills, with Plew making seven digs and serving three aces. Samantha Perdue had 10 digs and two aces, while Mia Fehlinger collected eight digs.
Peek said the goal “is to win, and to do that, especially in this sectional, you’ve got to be balanced. I love seeing the balance. I’m not even mad that our setter led us in kills, because she did a great job distributing the ball around and being efficient. I think we hit .438 tonight as a team. That’s a testament to Margo’s decision-making. She was doing some nice little nuance stuff out there, too, to set herself up to go 9-for-10 on her own.”
Muntel led Westfield in hitting with eight kills, while Logan Mapes dished out 26 assists. Mallory Weber made 14 digs for the Shamrocks, who finished their season 12-14.
“We just played them just last week, and we had some specific things that we had worked on to prepare for them,” said Westfield coach Sandra Burks. “And we definitely made some improvements on some of those things and got some stops there. Honestly, we played a really good Fishers team that was really quick, and kudos to them for where they’re at right now.”
“We have a very young team,” said Burks. “We’re really excited about where we’re at and looking forward to next year.”
Burks also had praise for the Shamrocks’ three seniors, Julia Bohn, Mapes and Abby Heck.
“We talked a lot about servant leadership, and they are three of the best leaders that we have ever had,” said Burks. “I thought that they did a really good job all season leading us.”
Hamilton Southeastern is 26-2 and will play Carmel at 11 a.m. Saturday in the first semi-final match. Fishers is 19-5 and plays Zionsville in the second semi-final at approximately 12:30 p.m. The championship match is set for 7 p.m. Saturday evening.
GUERIN CATHOLIC ADVANCES
Guerin Catholic advanced to the semi-finals of Sectional 27 at Bishop Chatard with a straight-set win over Christel House Academy on Thursday.
The Golden Eagles improved to 14-13 and play Brebeuf Jesuit at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the second semi-final match. Hamilton Heights plays Heritage Christian at 10 a.m. in the first semi-final.