FORTVILLE — You couldn’t have asked for a better match to get two of the area’s top volleyball teams ready for next week’s sectional competition.
It was a match between Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals. And, it was a battle between two teams on seven-match winning streaks.
Mt. Vernon (18-4, 5-2 HHC) came out on top in its final home match of the season by defeating nearby-rival New Palestine (23-7, 2-5 HHC), 3-1.
The Marauders won by set scores of 25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 25-20.
“They are a very solid team and they keep pressure on you the entire time,” Mt. Vernon coach Eric Bulmahn said of the Dragons. “It’s a great match for us to get used to handling somebody that puts pressure on you every single swing.
“We have a lot of things to work on (before the sectional). I thought our transition defense wasn’t strong because their middles are fast and they were in system. It’s the same thing (that sectional favorite) Yorktown does.”
The Marauders recognized their two seniors, Claire Ertel and Olivia Yeley, prior to the match. Both girls did plenty to get recognized during the match, too.
Ertel had 24 kills, tying for the match-high with junior teammate Cecilia Bulmahn. She also had 16 digs. An Ertel kill ended the fourth and final set.
Yeley, in the third set, became the program’s career leader in blocks, besting the old mark of 278 set by Kari Kramer, who presented the game ball to the new record-holder after the set.
“The seniors should be pretty proud of the game they played on their last home game here,” coach Bulmahn added.
It was a strong night for the Dragons, too. The first two sets went back-and-forth.
In the second set, New Pal led by as much as four late, 16-12, before the Marauders rallied to tie it, 18-18, then lead 23-20. The Dragons fought back to tie the match, 1-1, scoring the final five points. They got late-set kills from Reagan Kleiman, Jesi Hall and, the clincher, from setter Sarah Adam.
There were 13 ties in the set.
Hall, a middle hitter, had 20 kills for the match.
In the opener, there were eight ties, the last at 16-16, and Ertel had seven kills to lead the Marauders. The five-point margin matched the largest lead by either team in the set.
“The last few times we’ve played these guys, the match wasn’t as competitive as it was tonight,” New Palestine coach Kelli Gabehart said. “I don’t know if we had the right mentality when we first came out. Then, it was, ‘Hey, look, we can stay with them.’
“That’s definitely the best we’ve played against Mt. Vernon in the last three years.”
The final two sets were mostly in favor of the Marauders. They led by as much as 11 points in the third.
There were seven ties in the fourth set before Mt. Vernon began to pull away. The Marauders scored five straight points after the final tie at 10-10. The first two points and last point of the 5-0 run came on kills by Cecilia Bulmahn.
Though close in proximity, the teams will go separate ways next week when the IHSAA girls volleyball state tournament gets underway.
Mt. Vernon is in the eight-team Class 4A Sectional 9 tournament hosted by defending state champion New Castle. It includes No. 2 Yorktown, as well as, a very strong Greenfield-Central team. Mt. Vernon reached the sectional final last year before losing to champion New Castle.
New Palestine goes the Indianapolis route, playing in Class 4A Sectional 10 at Cathedral. The Dragons were knocked out by North Central in last year’s tournament.
“We’ve had a great season, 23-7,” Gabehart said. “For sectional time, we just have to go out there and know we can win. We have the best record in our sectional. We don’t play the same schedule as the other teams do, but we’ve proven we can win games.”
The Marauders have one more tune-up before the postseason. They travel to Bishop Chatard on Saturday to get a couple of matches in at the host school’s invitational.
The Dragons go back to work on Saturday, Oct. 17 in a sectional semifinal match. The Dragons are scheduled to play at 11 a.m. against the winner of Warren Central-Lawrence North.
