Even with its 19 sectional titles, tons of experience and a Class A No. 1 ranking, the Wes-Del volleyball team didn’t look quite ready for the atmosphere that awaited at Seton Catholic’s Chuck Mosey Gymnasium on Tuesday.
With a school record for wins, their first sectional title and a gym packed with fans and their energy, the Cardinals looked like a determined bunch early on.
Once Wes-Del pulled out a victory in a tight first game, though, the Warriors took care of business.
Wes-Del rolled past the Cardinals in Games 2 and 3, claiming its eighth regional championship with a 25-21, 25-9, 25-10 triumph.
“… They’re fired up, they’re setting school records, they’ve got a great crowd tonight, this is a great place to play,” Wes-Del coach Biff Wilson said of Seton. “So I thought it was a matter of us withstanding a lot of those factors, and once we did and settled into our game — and won that first one, which was really important for either team — then we kind of got in our groove and really got real comfortable with the surroundings.”
The Warriors (32-3) advance to the Caston Semistate on Saturday to face Lafayette Central Catholic.
Wes-Del’s Mariah Berry had the set-winning kill again in each of the first two sets, and the team’s 10th ace of the night, delivered by Kristen Lansing, clinched the final set.
“Our serve is a big weapon, and to be honest, we’re used to a lot of service errors,” Wilson said. “We tend to make service errors, but if we get settled in and we start serving the ball where we want to, we’ve cut down on the errors. We increase the effectiveness of our offense from behind the service line, so it’s a very important part of our game.”
Alysa Sutton finished with six aces for the Warriors as well as a team-high 14 kills. Lansing had 12 digs and Chloe Kinsey added 10 with Mackenzie Whitehead adding 2½ blocks, Petro Kennedy had 34 assists and the Warriors finished with a .459 hitting percentage.
Yorktown falls in 3
Class 4A No. 1 Indianapolis Cathedral was simply too powerful for No. 8 Yorktown. The Fighting Irish stopped the Tigers 25-19, 25-19, 25-17.
“Obviously they’re really good and they’re big,” Yorktown coach Stephanie Bloom said. “Our gameplan was to try to put service pressure on them and defend as much as we could.
“We did that, but there were plays we were just unable to make. We fell behind and it’s too hard to play catch-up with that kind of team.”
Karlie Acree led the Tigers with 13 kills. Kendall Murr had a team-high nine digs, and Mimi Arrington had 21 assists.
Yorktown finished with a 30-7 record and claimed the first Class 4A sectional title in school history.
“I told the girls I was really proud of them,” Bloom said. “It was a different season in that I was out for a couple of weeks (on maternity leave). We won a conference title, the county title and a 4A sectional championship.
“I couldn’t be more proud. We had a great year and overachieved.”