INDIANAPOLIS
One year after ending its season with a Class 3A sectional loss to eventual champ Cardinal Ritter, an improved Indian Creek volleyball team appeared poised to avenge that defeat Thursday.
Unfortunately for the Braves, the Raiders had other ideas.
IC built leads in each of the first two sets, but Ritter rallied to win them both. The Raiders then controlled the third set from the start and claimed a 25-19, 25-23, 25-16 win over the Braves in the first round of the 3A Beech Grove Sectional.
The loss ended Indian Creek’s season at 16-14. Ritter (10-20) advances to play Herron in a Saturday semifinal.
“We just felt disjointed,” Braves coach Andi Ferris said. “We couldn’t put it all together all at once. We started out strong, but we played so tight. We haven’t won a sectional for a long time (1997), and we didn’t have anything to lose, but we’ve just got to learn how we get there.”
The second set appeared to be critical. After dropping the first set 25-19, The Braves jumped to a 17-8 lead and were still ahead at 22-16, but Ritter completely took over from there, using strong serving and taking advantage of some Creek errors to score nine of the next 10 points.
Indian Creek never seriously threatened in the third set, as the Raiders built 8-4 and 16-8 leads. The Braves whittled the lead down to 16-12 at one point, but Ritter reeled off six straight to build a 22-12 edge.
In the first set, the Braves scored the first five points before the Raiders responded with 10 of the next 12 to build a 10-7 edge. Indian Creek came as close as 21-19, but Ritter claimed the next four points to close out that set.
“We were so much more relaxed when we were playing in that second set,” Ferris said. “Our serve receive was terrible. That’s something we work on every day. I think we got inside our own heads. We lost that first set by six points, and we had five serve-receiving errors. Volleyball’s such a mental game. It’s just something we have to work on.”
Ferris thought the second-set collapse carried over into the third set for the Braves from a mental standpoint.
“Volleyball is a game of runs, and we kept getting down on ourselves instead of overcoming it,” she said.
The Braves’ front-row tandem of Ava McClanahan and Faith Wiseman combined for 18 kills, nine apiece. Wiseman, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, led IC with five blocks, while McClanahan added three.
Setter Grayson Burkett tallied 21 assists, while Alli Gavin totaled 11 digs.
Underclassmen dominate IC’s roster — Wiseman, Burkett and Garvin are all sophomores — but Ferris said the Braves will badly miss McClanahan and fellow senior Emilee Scott.
“Emilee and Ava are just amazing people,” Ferris said. “They made this season enjoyable and fun. They’re lighthearted, they worked hard. You can’t beat that. But we’re a very young team and I think the underclassmen can do something special in the years to come.”
