INDIANAPOLIS
Center Grove started out its postseason right with a dominant display in the first round of the Class 4A Perry Meridian Sectional on Thursday evening.
The victims were the host Falcons, who fell to the nint- in three sets, 25-23, 25-16, 25-15.
Center Grove (23-8) now takes on Franklin Central, which it beat in three straight but close sets back in September.
Entering the sectional, the Trojans were on a slide, having lost three straight. Two of those setbacks came against 4A No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern and 3A No. 2 Tri-West. Nothing rights a ship like a first-round tournament win, and except for a small hiccup in the first set, the Trojans sailed through.
In set one, Center Grove darted out a 10-5 lead and was gradually increasing it when the Falcons reeled off seven straight points to take an 18-15 lead before Center Grove head coach Jennifer Hawk called her second timeout of the set to try and settle her team down.
Perry Meridian (15-12) scored another point, but the Trojans then took control, outscoring the Falcons 10-5 to take the set.
“It’s as expected. It’s the first tournament match and there’s a little bit of nerves,” Hawk said. “It comes with the territory. I told them to take a deep breath, relax, do what got us here and once they settled in, we did what we’re used to and shut out the environment.”
Center Grove’s talented combination of upper- and underclassmen then jelled, and Trojans didn’t fall behind once in the second set.
“We’ve been working a lot on reading offenses and trying to put ourselves a step ahead, so we aren’t always scrambling, chasing and getting caught,” Hawk said.
Leading the way for the Trojans’ attack was senior Ellen Zapp with 18 kills. Sophomore Natalie Vance had 12, while senior Reese Dunkle had 11. Anabelle Schembra totaled 42 assists.
“Really this was an all-around great effort,” Hawk said. “Once we got in the groove, it was clean. It took us a minute and then Anabelle kind of had her choice of who to go to go for the score.”
Saturday’s semifinal against Franklin Central is at 12:30 p.m., with the winner to face the Southport-Mooresville winner in the final.
Hawk expects the same close match against the Flashes as before.
“They gave us a pretty good run,” she said. “Each set was within two or three points, so it was not a cakewalk by any means.”
