PENDLETON — Mt. Vernon got by its No. 1 rival in the morning, but couldn’t get past the No. 4 team in the state in the evening.
The Marauders volleyball season came to a close Saturday night with a 3-0 loss to state-ranked, perennial-power Yorktown (26-5) in the title game of the Pendleton Heights Sectional.
Mt. Vernon (17-16) lost to Yorktown, winners of 10 straight, by set scores of 25-11, 25-18, 25-21.
The teams had different routes to the championship. Yorktown played the second of two semifinal matches earlier in the day, but was hardly tested in a 25-9, 25-12, 25-5 sweep of Muncie Central.
The Marauders played a marathon in beating rival New Palestine 3-2, winning by set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 19-25, 15-13.
Just nine days prior to the semifinal matchup, the Marauders lost a five-set regular-season contest at New Pal.
“It definitely hurt the first set coming out,” Mt. Vernon coach Samantha Grider said of her team’s slow start against the Tigers. “We needed to wake up a little bit and get going.”
Yorktown scored the first seven points of the match before a kill from Mt. Vernon junior middle hitter Olivia Johnson.
The Marauders were more competitive in the second set, but again, got off to a slow start.
Led by junior outside hitter Charlotte Vinson, who finished the match with 25 kills, the Tigers scored the first three points before Marauder senior middle hitter Sophia Damer had a kill.
Yorktown’s lead grew to eight, 14-6. The Marauders got it down to four on three occasions.
Trailing 18-12, Mt. Vernon scored on a Yorktown service error and a combo block from Damer and setter Ava Whitmore. Twice Damer had kills to cut it to a four-point deficit at 19-15 and 20-16.
Yorktown followed with back-to-back kills from Vinson and Claire Hazen for a six-point lead. The teams traded service errors on the next four points before a Mt. Vernon attack error ended the set.
Mt. Vernon’s best set was the last.
Again, the Marauders got down early 5-1.
Trailing 7-4, Mt. Vernon scored six of the next seven points to gain a 10-8 lead.
It started with a Johnson kill. Mt. Vernon scored three of the next four points on Yorktown errors. A solo block from Damer gave MV a 9-8 lead. It was followed by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Sierra Holverson.
A kill by Holverson later in the set grew the lead to three, 12-9. Yorktown rallied to tie the match 14-14. It took a 15-14 lead on a service ace from Kynnadi Bell.
Mt. Vernon had ties at 15, 18, 19 and 20. It’s last lead was 19-18, coming on a combo block from Johnson and Whitmore. It was part of a 3-0 run that opened with a Johnson/Whitmore block.
At 20-20, Mt. Vernon had two attack errors. A Holverson kill cut it to 22-21, but Yorktown finished with kills from middle hitter Jayde Garrett and Vinson and a service ace from Addi Applegate.
“(Our) defense picked it up (later in the match). Serve receive was there the first set right out of the gate and then we picked up our offense going into the second set,” Grider said. “The third-set defense picked up but it wasn’t enough to close out a set.”
Damer and Holverson each had six kills. Johnson had four.
Mt. Vernon outblocked Yorktown 7-4. Damer was part of four, including 3 solos. Whitmore was part of three blocks. Easton Wampler had a solo and Johnson shared two.
Sophomore Aubry Dowling had a team-high 20 digs. Holverson had 12 and setter Whitmore delivered 19 assists.
“It’s been a great year,” Grider added. “Last year was kind of a rebuilding year and this year we kind of put all the pieces together. It was definitely an up and down year. We lost some games I don’t feel like we should have lost, but the past two weeks have been phenomenal and it’s been leadership from my senior class.
Mt. Vernon will graduate five seniors, including starters Damer and Wampler, along with Ainsley Baer, Kate Ferguson and Emma Rappe.
“There are five of them and all five bring something very different to the floor,” Grider said.
But, the future looks bright.
“My sophomore class is great. They’ve been great since they’ve stepped in the door. Three (Alivia Morgan, Holverson, Dowling) that were on the floor (Saturday) started as freshmen and they play highly-competitive club ball in the offseason. I see them bringing more to the floor next year and as upperclassmen being leaders next year.”
In the win over New Palestine, Wampler (19), Damer (17), Holverson (12) and Johnson (11) all had double figures in kills. Dowling (21), Whitmore (12), Holverson (11), Wampler (10) and Avery Delello (10) led in digs. Whitmore had 62 assists. Damer had five aces and three block assists. Johnson had five block assists. Holverson added three block assists.
New Palestine had some big numbers, too.
Bella Brownfield had a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs. Natalie Sevier had 11 kills. Rachel Burke had eight kills and three blocks. Nyla Lewis had seven kills and three blocks. Hayden Ramsey also had eight kills.
Azure Flagle led in digs with 22. Makaeli Johnson recorded 20.
Sophomore setter Sam Gooding went over the 1,000 mark in career assists. She had 46 in the match to go with three kills.
“I think we had a chip on our shoulder going into the New Pal game,” Grider said.
New Palestine finished its season 26-6.
The Dragons only graduate three players, Brownfield, Lewis and Burke.
New Palestine has a strong sophomore class, too, including Sevier, Ramsey, Flagle and Gooding.
“As a coach you just cannot be more proud of these kids,” New Palestine head coach Kelli Gabehart said of her team. “They absolutely battled. Going down two sets and forcing a fifth set proves how much fight this team has. They gave it their all and left it all on the court.
“The scoreboard (Saturday), did not define our season or how amazing these young ladies are. Everybody doubted us this year, and we proved a lot of people wrong.”
