NEW CASTLE — Pendleton Heights carried a reminder from last year for motivational help into Tuesday’s Class 4A Volleyball Sectional 9 tournament opener against Greenfield-Central at Chrysler Fieldhouse.
The underclassman-heavy Cougars will now have their own motivation to do the same next year.
Pendleton Heights, which lost to the Cougars in last year’s sectional championship match, avenged the tournament loss by defeating the Cougars 3-0 in Tuesday’s first round matchup.
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With virtually his entire team coming back for next year, Greenfield-Central coach Ron Heck is hopeful his team will grow from Tuesday’s first-round tournament loss and return a more veteran team when they are in a similar situation in 2020.
“We’ll have eight or nine seniors next year,” Heck said. “A lot of our losses this season were against powerhouse, senior-heavy teams.
“I feel when the girls come out of their club season, they will be a little more prepared, a year older. I’m looking forward to next year for the kids.”
Heck’s initial year as head coach was still pretty good. Though the team lost a number of key players to graduation from last year’s sectional title club, the 2019 version of the Cougars had a solid 18-13 campaign.
They just didn’t have quite enough on Tuesday to take down veteran Pendleton Heights, which won by set scores of 25-12, 25-23, 25-18.
It was a rematch of a regular-season Hoosier Heritage Conference contest at Pendleton Heights held on Oct. 3. The Arabians won that match by similar scores, 25-12, 25-19, 25-22.
Pendleton Heights improved to 27-5 and will play Mt. Vernon in an 11 a.m. semifinal contest Saturday.
“They’re a solid team and last year was a little motivation,” Pendleton Heights coach Blair Barksdale said of the Cougars. “We beat them in the regular season (last year) and they beat us in the sectional championship. So, that has definitely not gone away.
“We wanted to make sure we came in prepared tonight. It’s hard to beat a team twice, so we wanted to make sure we were focused on this game and not looking into the future.”
That’s an attribute of a veteran team.
Though the Arabians standout hitter is sophomore Avery Ross, many of the team’s key contributors are seniors, including setter Aubree Dwiggins, middle blockers Gracie King and Averi Lanman and libero Alyssa Hall.
Every player on the court for the Cougars was an underclassman.
“I think we’re going to be more mature next year,” Greenfield-Central assistant coach Paige Heck said. “After this season and during the club season they can work on their mental toughness aspect of the game. If they come with that attitude, I think we will be able to go forward really well into next year.”
For Tuesday, though, the Cougars didn’t have quite enough to get by the Arabians. It didn’t help that they got into a big hole early.
Pendleton Heights dominated the first set, which included six kills from Ross.
Greenfield-Central rallied in the second, coming back from an 11-7 deficit to take a 19-16 lead.
It was a little bit of everyone contributing. A kill from junior Makayla Price gave Greenfield-Central a 12-11 lead. It grew to 15-12 on a finish from junior Brooke Herrell. A kill from junior middle blocker Molly Schwarzkopf gave the Cougars their 19th point, but Pendleton Heights found a way to rally and take a two-set lead.
A tip by King gave the Arabians a 24-22 lead and they were able to finish the set after a Cougar attack error.
“The second set we really fought and competed,” Ron Heck said. “We finished and we passed very well. The demoralizing factor was when they were up 23-22 and they set an obvious double-hit. The ball was rotating like a top and they did not call it. We free-balled the ball back and they got the kill. That was a wind-sucker out.”
After eight early ties in the third set, Pendleton Heights went on a 6-2 run to take a 15-11 lead and were able to hold control the rest of the set.
Along with a solid attack, the Arabians defense was a factor, too.
“We had 98 set attempts and 28 kills,” coach Ron Heck added. “Our attackers had numerous opportunities to put the ball away, but their back row was reading very well.”
Price led the Cougars in kills with 11 and had a double-double, adding 21 digs. Herrell had nine kills, while Ava Antic contributed five. Libero Marissa Grigsby had 25 digs. Antic added nine.
