Former Center Grove volleyball and softball player Lindsey (Galloway) Hall, right, is now a married mother of twin daughters Kai (second from left) and Naomi.
Submitted photo
The comeback of all volleyball comebacks continues to age well.
Nearly 23 years have passed since a Lindsey Galloway serve led to the clinching point of the 2000 Class 4A state championship match, and the lone volleyball state championship in Center Grove’s history.
Trailing 14-7 in the third set, the Trojans defied virtually every odd possible by putting together an exhilarating 9-0 scoring run to knock off three-time defending state champ Muncie Central, 17-19, 15-12, 16-14, in the Class 4A title match at Noblesville High School.
Center Grove finished with a 38-2 record.
“It’s a memory we talk about often when we get together,” said the 38-year-old Galloway (now Lindsey Hall), who was a 5-foot-9 junior right-side hitter for that Trojans team. “We felt so cool because we had a police escort back to the school, and they had a pep session for us. It just felt incredible.”
Hall and her husband, Marcus, celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in June. The couple are parents to twin 7-year-old daughters Kai and Naomi, who are about to be second-graders in the Franklin Central school district.
Should their children pursue athletics as they get older, mom is going to make a tremendous sounding board.
Not only did Hall start for the most decorated volleyball team in Center Grove history, she roamed center field for the 2001 and 2002 softball squads. As a senior, she helped the Trojans, guided by the late Russ Milligan, to runner-up status in Class 3A (the fourth class of softball wasn’t introduced until 2004) after an 8-1 loss to Lake Central in the state final at the Cherry Tree Complex in Carmel.
“When I look back, I think I had the best high school experience ever,” said Hall, who coached volleyball at Beech Grove High School prior to the birth of her daughters but now remains busy as a stay-at-home mom.
“Sports-wise, to be able to say I got to play in a state championship game in both sports is pretty incredible, but also not very common.”
After graduating from Center Grove in 2002, Hall continued playing volleyball at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She started her college career as a libero, played some right-side hitter as a sophomore and was strictly an outside hitter her final two seasons.
In fact, the Galloway surname can still be found in the UT Chattanooga record book. Her 1,530 digs rank sixth on the Mocs’ career list; she also sits at No. 6 all-time in service aces in one season (58), and is seventh in single-season attacks (1,238). She led her team in kills her junior and senior campaigns, and in her final season the Mocs went 19-14 and finishing second in the Southern Conference.
“Lindsey was tough,” said Deb McClurg, the Center Grove volleyball coach for 19 seasons (1994-2012). “She led our team in kill percentage, and had a knack of being able to put the ball where other people weren’t. She found the empty spot on the floor.
“If they were back on their heels, she was going to tip. If they were leaning left, she would hit it right.”
Playing for no-nonsense types such as McClurg and Milligan while at Center Grove virtually assured on-court and on-field success. Hall insists it helped in other facets of her two favorite sports.
“We didn’t have drama,” Hall said. “We wanted to win, so we weren’t going to let that get in the way. Coach McClurg certainly didn’t put up with anything.
“She knew we had that talent, so she did what she could to pull it out of us. Another thing that worked really well with volleyball and softball is that our parents didn’t get in the way.”
