INDIANAPOLIS — The move down to Class 3A allowed New Palestine to escape perennial Class 4A state title contender Yorktown in the sectional, but waiting for them was another state powerhouse — Roncalli.
After a 3-1 win over Indian Creek in Saturday morning’s semifinal, the Dragons got their chance at the Royals in the championship match Saturday night at Roncalli High School.
The No. 1 ranked and unbeaten Royals (31-0) were too much for the Dragons, defeating them in straight sets 25-9, 25-15, and 25-11.
“I just thanked the girls for the awesome season that we had. Roncalli is just so talented, and they were the better team tonight, but we had moments where we were playing with them, and the girls didn’t give up,” New Palestine head coach Kelli Gabehart said. “We had such an incredible season, that’s what I tried to focus on. I wanted to focus on the kids in the room and not so much the match.”
That incredible season began with a school-record 21-0 start to the year. By the end, the Dragons finished with a record of 29-5 and were ranked No. 8 in 3A. They were winners of the Richmond Invite, the Greenwood Invitational, and the Southport tournament and swept their opponent in 22 of their 29 wins.
During the season, libero Azure Flagle broke the 1,000 career digs milestone, setter Samantha Gooding eclipsed 2,000 career assists and Gabehart won her 250th career match.
“This was one of my favorite years that I’ve coached. It was just so fun starting 21-0 and gelling together as a team and seeing that competitive spirit,” Gabehart said. “It’s unfortunate that every team has to lose besides one, and I bet Roncalli is the team that wins it all.”
New Palestine’s most competitive set of Saturday night was the second.
Two Roncalli attack errors and a Josie Corbett kill put the Dragons ahead quickly 3-1.
After falling behind 9-7 later in the set, an Elena Cook kill and a Natalie Sevier block brought the Dragons back even.
The next nine points went Roncalli’s way.
Consecutive blocks by Central Michigan University commit Lily Jones kickstarted the Royals run, and a pair of kills by University of Oregon commit Logan Bell closed the run and pushed the Dragons deficit to 18-9.
A Sevier kill pushed the Dragons into double digits, and they fought the rest of the way, but couldn’t overcome the Roncalli lead.
Kills by Corbett and Hayden Ramsey made things 22-14 before a New Palestine attack error and two kills by University of Missouri commit Lydia Stahley closed things out.
“The very first point, we were digging some of their balls, and I thought ‘okay we can do this’,” Gabehart said. “The thing with Roncalli though, is they’re going to play long rallies, and then they win those long rallies. They were just ripping the ball and they’re just an outstanding team.”
The opening set was controlled by Roncalli almost immediately.
A Ramsey kill evened it at 1-1, but the Royals took the next nine points.
Stahley had three kills over the stretch and eight total in the set including the set-winning point.
She finished the night with a match-high 19 kills, while Bell finished with 17.
“She’s impossible to gameplan for because she can just hit over the block and the power that she brings is just incredible,” Gabehart said of Stahley. “Their girls are going to Oregon, Missouri, all over the place. They’re just loaded with talent.”
In the final set, the Dragons hung until the midway point.
Two early Ramsey kills evened the match 1-1 and cut a Roncalli lead to 3-2. Sevier brought the Dragons back within one with a kill at 5-4 and after a Roncalli error, a Caylee Brown kill put New Palestine in front 6-5.
Bell answered with back-to-back kills to put the Royals back ahead for good.
Two more Brown points trimmed the Dragons deficit to 10-8, but the Royals won 15 of the final 18 points. Stahley had three straight kills to close out the match.
Sevier led the Dragons with six kills, Ramsey finished with four, Brown had three, and both Cook and Corbett had two.
Flagle had a team-high 15 digs, while Kyndra Montieth had 10.
Leading the team in assists was Gooding with 10.
