Center Grove’s Ava Beecher, left, shows the sectional championship trophy to her teammates following Saturday’s sectional final at Greenwood.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Center Grove senior volleyball player Sophie Sabol’s confidence in her team is growing.
“I’ve been on varsity every year and we’ve won the sectional every year,” Sabol said. “I knew I had a bigger role than I had the past two years. I wanted to make sure we came into this and not only won, but with a certain dominance. This is the first year I’ve felt we can make a really good run in the tournament. I think this is the strongest team I’ve played on. I feel like everyone is on the same page and we have a lot of great players.”
The Class 4A No. 8 Trojans swept host Greenwood in three sets, 25-14, 25-11, 25-10, in a Class 4A sectional championship match on Saturday night. It was the ninth consecutive sectional title for the Trojans (26-5), who will play Floyd Central in a regional semifinal at Bloomington North on Oct. 21.
Center Grove had topped Bloomington North in four sets in the semifinals earlier Saturday to advance.
“Our first game was tougher against Bloomington North, a really good team,” Sabol said. “We knew if we wanted to win this game, we had to stay solid and not let up. Greenwood had a few good plays, but we knew we had to take care of business.”
Center Grove coach Jennifer Hawk said she was pleased with the consistency. The Trojans seemed to gain steam as the match went on.
“We’ve always been a learning team,” she said. “From the start of the match to the finish we can always see progression. We learn as we go. I learn as the match goes, too, and adjustments we can make. We settle in and know our matchups are across the net. With each rotation we get stronger. It’s been a steady trend all year. It doesn’t surprise me we did it again. Everybody had their moment to shine all day.”
One of those shining was junior Ellen Zapp, who led the Trojans with 14 kills in the championship match.
“It took a lot of effort this week working together as a team, building up our confidence today going into our first match against Bloomington North,” Zapp said. “I think our confidence and our focus contributed to our win. It is all about who is peaking at the right time, and I think we are on the way up. It’s been a great year and I’ve loved every minute of playing with these girls.”
Hawk said the Trojans now reset before the regional.
“We just regroup and strive to get a little bit better each day,” she said. “There are a few focal points we have to fine tune and tighten up on, but overall everybody is playing well. We’re working together, which is what we’ve talked a lot about recently.
The Woodmen, who finished 12-17, advanced to the final by sweeping Mooresville in three sets.
“We had some moments and opportunities that we might have missed that could have gotten us back in the game,” Greenwood coach Zach Mackie said of the final. “They’re the best for a reason right out. They came out and played hard and they played together. We knew they were going to be tough. We just gave them our best shot.”
Mackie said the team will be young again next season.
“We’ve got another 15 freshmen coming in, just like we did this year,” Mackie said. “We had some younger kids get experience this year. We had six kids playing new positions. I’m proud of the work they put in and the effort they put forward.”
