New Palestine’s Kameron Engle sets the ball in the season-opener against Covenant Christian. The Dragons lost to the Warriors 3-1 in the sectional semis on Saturday.
INDIANAPOLIS — The season didn’t end the way that they had hoped, but for the New Palestine boys volleyball team, there’s a lot to be encouraged by and a lot to be excited about.
As a team still getting experienced with the sport, the Dragons won four of the last five regular season matches to close out the regular season with an 11-11 record.
They defeated Beech Grove 3-0 in the opening round of the Roncalli Sectional, but fell in the semifinals on Saturday 3-1 to Covenant Christian to end the year at 12-12.
While it was already an encouraging season for head coach Amy Schreiber-Roan and her team, the future looks even brighter for both the sport and for the Dragons.
The sport was officially recognized by the IHSAA earlier this month and will be a sanctioned sport beginning next season, while the Dragons roster was full of juniors who will be back next season, too.
“Our growth this year, even with today’s match when we were a bit off, has been incredible. I’m very proud of this group. I wouldn’t say we’re young, but we’ve got a lot of juniors, so we’ll have a lot of these guys back,” Schreiber-Roan said. “The speed of our offense this season and the way that we have been able to adjust throughout the year have greatly improved. We’re getting to the point where we can talk a bit more about strategy and how to beat the other team rather than just being focused on what we’re doing on our side.”
With this being just the third season the Dragons have had a team, the growing pains are still there and were prevalent on Saturday.
New Palestine took the opening set 25-18 but dropped the next three.
“One of the things that I hope we take away is that you have to maintain yourself throughout the course of a match,” Schreiber-Roan said. “I think the lack of experience with the game is why we struggle with that.”
In Set 1, the Dragons were in full control and led the entire way.
In a 5-3 game, they reeled off eight straight points to go up 11-3.
A kill by Dontae Thompson kicked off the run and returned the serve back to the Dragons. With junior Aaron Smith serving, the Dragons took the next five points.
In the season opener against Covenant Christian, New Palestine took the first two sets en route to a 3-1 win.
On Saturday, a new-look Warriors team made sure that didn’t happen again.
“Their team has changed drastically. They have a couple of guys hurt in the season opener, so their entire offense is different. I went back and looked at that game and watched the film, but it was a very different offense than what they have now,” Schreiber-Roan said. “Their setter was one of the guys that were hurt so that just changes the entire dynamic and speed of their offense.”
Following the opening set win, the Dragons struggled to find momentum against the Warriors high-powered offense.
Covenant Christian won the remaining sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-20.
They used leads of 11-4 and 20-12 and led from beginning to end to even the match 1-1. They used a mid-set outburst to pull away in the third to take a 2-1 lead
In the third set, three straight New Palestine points put the Dragons ahead 6-4, but kills by the Warriors’ Isaac Crane and Ryan Burris tied it up.
The teams traded points until a 7-1 Covenant Christian run made it 15-9. The Warriors later pushed that lead to 22-11 before coasting to the win.
“We have just been an up-and-down team all season,” Schreiber-Roan said. “I think some of that has been us not having the experience to maintain ourselves throughout a match.”
In the final set, the Dragons stuck around until the final few points.
A Jaxon Hinkle kill put New Palestine ahead 5-4, and after falling behind by four points later in the set, back-to-back Thompson kills evened it, 16-16.
The Dragons were outscored 9-4 the rest of the way. Burris had a pair of kills over the final nine points for the Warriors including the match point.
“Our block really struggled and once their hitters figured that out, that really made the difference between the first set and the rest,” Schreiber-Roan said. “They’ve got some great hitters.”
