Yorktown celebrates a point against New Prairie during the first round of the Twin Lakes Semi-State Saturday afternoon. Yorktown won 3-0, then defeated Leo 3-0 to earn a spot in the state championship.
MONTICELLO, Ind. — When the Yorktown volleyball team defeated Leo 25-6, 25-21, 25-23, it didn’t just clinch a spot in the Class 3A state championship match next Saturday at Worthen Arena. It gave Yorktown’s juniors a chance to win state for the first time in their high school careers, against No. 2 Providence.
The last time Yorktown made it to state, it was 2012, and Rhyen Neal was in the eighth grade. She went to Worthen Arena to watch Yorktown win its last state championship, flanked by fellow junior Kendall Murr and other players on the team.
They knew they’d be going to Yorktown in less than a year, and just hoped they’d have their shot to be crowned champions.
Now, they’ll be on the court, instead of watching from the stands.
“Me, Kendall, everyone in this class, ever since middle school we’ve been talking about winning a state championship together,” Neal said of a class that also includes Olivia Reed and Brooke Wilson. “We have that chance now.”
After sweeping New Prairie earlier in the day, Yorktown turned its attention to Leo. The Tigers blitzed the Lions in the first set, with Kenzie Knuckles (11 kills, 21 digs) finding one-on-one opportunities over the middle along with uncontested attacks that let Yorktown cruise to an early blowout first-set win.
But after taking the first set so easily, Tigers coach Stephanie Bloom said her team relaxed, which let Leo back into the match.
Leo held the lead throughout the second set, ahead as late as 19-16. After a side-out, Mimi Arrington took over serving and led the Tigers on a 5-0 run, giving her team a lead that wouldn’t be relinquished.
‘I think when you beat someone and so dominantly so early, you have to remember that isn’t who they really are,” Bloom said. “For my girls, it was more like, ‘Can you respond to who they’re really going to be in set two?’ And I think we lost a little focus and had too much confidence.”
The biggest thorn in Yorktown’s side all match was Leo’s Katie Crowe. She spent the entire match throwing down kills through double blocks near the pins, putting five of them down in the second set.
“It was something we talked about between sets two and three,” Bloom said. “We had to defend her better, we shifted our defense to slow her down.”
The teams battled through the third set before Yorktown, which got 11 kills from Reed, took a 20-17 lead. A flurry of blocks from Leo tied the game at 22, but Neal (10 kills) took over the set.
She threw down a kill to break a 21-21 tie before finishing the match on a final kill minutes later, one that sent her team to the state championship.
If she wanted to fulfill the dream she’s had of winning state with the same teammates she grew up with, she took the match into her own hands.
Literally.
Contact prep sports reporter David Polaski at dpolaski@muncie.gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidPolaskiTSP.