SHELBYVILLE
You come at the queens, you best not miss.
Looking for the first volleyball sectional championship in its history, Greenwood came at Center Grove hard from the outset of Saturday night’s Class 4A final in Shelbyville. But when the first set didn’t end up breaking in favor of the Woodmen, the Trojans seized control and rolled to a 25-21, 25-13, 25-9 triumph.
The Trojans (22-9), who claimed their seventh straight sectional championship, move on to face Columbus East in a regional semifinal at Bloomington North this coming Saturday.
Greenwood scored the first three points of the match and didn’t trail until the Trojans put together four straight points in the middle of the first set to take a 14-11 lead. Center Grove maintained the upper hand from there, and while the Woodmen were able to fight off set points with kills by Jenna Armstrong and Mya Ayro, Avery Holubar’s fifth kill of the set closed the door on that rally.
The close battle in the opening set only hardened Center Grove’s resolve.
“We knew we had to play harder,” Holubar said. “We were like, ‘All right, we won, but what can we do to win better?’ So every set, we focused on something different. The little mistakes from the second set, we were like, ‘Okay, that can’t happen again.’”
As a result, the second set offered little such drama. The Trojans used a pair of Katie Egenolf kills and a block and a kill from Reese Dunkle to race out to an 8-2 advantage, then kept building until the margin had swelled to 16-4. Greenwood got no closer than eight the rest of the way.
Center Grove then laid any remaining doubt to rest by scoring the first nine points of the third and keeping the Woodmen at a comfortable distance from there.
Dropping the first set took much of the wind out of Greenwood’s sails, according to coach Charisse Mitchell.
“I think the emotional part is what got us,” she said. “It’s just one of those overbearing feelings that you can’t get out of.”
The Trojans cruised into the final match with a 25-13, 25-21, 25-15 semifinal sweep of Franklin earlier in the day. Greenwood took care of Franklin Central in the other semi, earning a 25-11, 25-18, 15-25, 25-13 victory.
For the Woodmen (19-13), the loss capped a solid but tumultuous season. Greenwood not only dealt with injuries — including one early in the season to starting setter Ella Dean — but a midseason coaching change, and still came away with plenty of positives despite the adversity.
Though key contributors Jenna Armstrong, Melia Gorrell and Abby Gregory move on, Mitchell is optimistic about the future.
“We’ve made some historical breakthroughs this season,” she said. “We’re here. The younger girls, they know what it’s like; they have to fight and push hard. Our seniors, they put that expectation there, so now we’ve just got to soar from there.”
Center Grove, meanwhile, is gathering confidence and looking to keep soaring this week.
“We’re a great team, and I have a feeling we’ll make a deeper run than just sectionals,” Egenolf said.
