Union County’s Ella Dils hits the ball Tuesday during a volleyball game against New Castle in Liberty.
LIBERTY, Ind. – Momentum is a dangerous thing.
So was Avarie Powell’s attack Tuesday night at Union County High School’s Wilbur Curry Court.
New Castle used both to battle back for a thrilling 17-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-19 victory over Class 2A No. 7-ranked Union County.
“That was much needed,” said Matt Curts, the first-year head coach at New Castle who has 14 years of head coaching experience.
After winning three straight Tri-Eastern Conference titles and making trips to the IHSAA semistate three of the past four seasons, Union County is looking to use the loss as a building block with defense of their TEC title scheduled to begin Thursday at Union City.
“We just keep working on our goals,” Union County coach Frank Spurlock said. “We keep improving on the things we can improve on and worry about the things we can control. These girls know what their goals are and they know what they’re trying to achieve.”
Ranked seventh in IndianaPrepVolleball.com’s Class 2A poll and 14th in the Indiana Girls Coaches Association poll, Union County (2-1) used a balanced attack and the leadership of six seniors to sprint to a 25-17 Game 1 victory, as well as the early advantage in Game 2.
The Patriots led by as many as seven points, but New Castle found a way to get back in the game, using a 5-1 run to get within 20-18 and forcing Union County to take a timeout at a crucial time.
The Patriots cushioned their lead to 23-19, but Powell had two kills in a run that put the Trojans within 24-23.
A penalty tied the game at 24 for New Castle, and a block fell in to give the Trojans a 25-24 lead.
Union County got help from a serve error to tie the game one last time, before Powell gave the Trojans game point and Gaci Bowers followed with the game-winning kill.
“In Game 2 we started out down and I called a timeout and said, it is now or never,” Curts said. “We got to focus on ball control, serve receive and we’ve got to serve aggressive. On that timeout, we came back point by point by point by point and we got them, and that changed the dynamics of the game.”
The Trojans never trailed in Game 4, and despite some UC fight in Game 4, Powell’s ability to tip in the middle was too much.
The Class 4A Trojans swept the Patriots two years ago, but Union County rebounded to win TEC, sectional and regional titles in two straight seasons.
“It’s a lesson, definitely for us,” said Union County senior Allison Kassens, the Palladium-Item’s reigning two-time All-Area Player of the Year. “… We’re just going to take advantage of playing New Castle and being so close to them and we’re going to make adjustments based on what we did wrong here, so we know what to do in the future when we get back to sectional champions, regional championships, that kind of thing.”
Kassens led the Patriots with 19 kills, while Madison Rosenberger had 10, Ella Dils had seven and Danielle Hill and Sydney Bradford each had five.
Bailey Jenkins had 18 digs for Union County, while Lauren Lester and Madison Rosenberger each had 13, Kassens had 12 and Micaila Rosenberger had nine.
Jenkins and Micaila Rosenberger each had two aces, while Dils and Kassens each had one.
Jenkins set for 34 assists, while Dils had 2.5 blocks, Hill had two and Bradford one.
“Union County’s a very good team,” Curts said. “They came out swinging, they served the ball really, really well, really aggressively, they got us out of system, and are a really good team. Frank’s doing a good job.
“I’m just glad we fought through and came back and won.”