Center Grove’s Reese Dunkle holds up the county championship trophy following Thursday’s win over Greenwood Christian.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Center Grove volleyball coach Jennifer Hawk figures the tough tests can only help.
“It’s a common trend we’re seeing lately is we’re getting everyone’s best, we feel like,” Hawk said. “It’s great because it doesn’t give us any time off, no matter who is on the other side, no matter what match we’re playing in, whether it’s a Monday or a Thursday, or two in a day. We’ve just got to keep reminding ourselves to stay in it every single point, because everything matters.”
The Class 4A No. 7 Trojans captured their 12th consecutive Johnson County tournament title by sweeping Greenwood Christian 25-13, 25-20, 25-13 in the championship match at Edinburgh on Thursday night.
In the first set of the final, the Cougars took a 5-3 lead before the Trojans reeled off 10 consecutive points to grab control. Center Grove took a 10-1 lead in the second set, but the Cougars (13-11) came back to twice narrow the lead to one point before Center Grove scored the last five points..
Hawk said she wasn’t concerned.
“I know what we’re capable of, it’s just those mental moments where we have to continue to practice that,” Hawk said. “You can’t just show up. We learned that early in the season. Trinty Lutheran caught us and it’s been a learning thing ever since. You have to take everyone seriously.”
Senior Ellen Zapp led the Trojans (22-5) with 14 kills in the championship, while senior Reese Dunkle delivered seven.
“This is a great tournament and I’m really proud of us for showing resilience,” Dunkle said. “Knowing we can fight through adversity that way as we move into the postseason, we can really finish big games.”
Dunkle said the Trojans might have been overconfident in their semifinal match against Indian Creek, where they had to battle their way to a surprisingly difficult 25-23, 25-11, 23-25, 25-12 win.
“It was good to drop a set because it showed us we can’t lay off and we need to finish each set,” Dunkle said. “We’re a really good team at fighting back. We feel like we’re the team to beat at county every year, so we do get everyone’s best shot. We like that because we don’t get better if we play people and they don’t give us their best.”
GCA coach Kayla Back liked her team’s competitiveness during the tournament. The Cougars beat the host Lancers in their semifinal match 25-13, 25-17, 25-9.
“It’s nice to feel we are moving in the right direction at the right time,” Back said. “We’ve got a lot to fix before the end of the season, but it’s jelling fairly nicely heading into sectionals and that’s what everyone is working for.”
Back said her team had some chances in each set.
“We made too many errors and they had some good swings and we were unable to defend,” she said. “They had some good serving runs that we struggled with a little bit. They’re a good team.”
Hawk said her team is close to peaking at the right time with three matches left. Center Grove plays in the Perry Meridian Sectional, which begins Oct. 15.
“We are getting some new developments in some of our younger kids,” Hawk said. “We have a lot of sophomores that play big roles, so seeing a little more production from them has been really great. The senior leadership, they want to go out with a bang, so they are giving everything they can now. They want to end on a really high note and I think it’s showing. We have three more regular-season games, a big Saturday coming up with HSE and Noblesville. We’ll get through there and get ready for our sectional draw and get it started.”
Ranked first in 4A, Hamilton Southeastern has won the past two state titles.
