Vikes take down LHS in 5

Todd Lancaster, Washington Times-Herald, Ind.
·5 min read

Sep. 24—MONTGOMERY — There were big crowds, active cheer blocks, push-up contests and time spent honoring cancer survivors, but in the end it was just a backyard brawl between the 2020 2A champions and the 2020 Class A runner-ups.

And when it was over, Barr-Reeve picked up the 5-set win over rival Loogootee (15-4).

Although the Vikes (12-7) were down 2-1 after three, they played their best volleyball in the final two sets to garner the win in a match where both teams were able to measure where they entering the final stretch.

LHS Coach Shelly Lengacher, she said the game came down to too many errors.

"Too many serves in the net, too many long. I don't think we have been called in the net that many times all year," she said. "I thought we passed well in the games we won, but we have things to clean up before sectional."

Viking coach Amber DeCoursey was pleased with the way her team played after being down, 2-1.

"We just didn't quit, we absolutely didn't quit. I mean, we had times where we could have rolled over, especially at the end of set three going to set four. And you know, the coaching staff was excellent about staying positive with the girls and just not letting them quit," said DeCoursey.

"Loogootee's Van Hoy, is just a phenomenal player. We knew she was going to get hers, whatever she wanted to do, she was going to be able to do, and their defense is top notch.

"I thought our serving was better, we applied more pressure on our serving tonight than what we have in the past. We're still missing too many, but I felt that our serving pressure was a lot better."

With Brooklyn Summers serving, LHS took a 3-0 lead. The Lions extended it to 6-1 before B-R took a time out. At 8-1 Viking Dylan DeCoursey came up with a kill to slow the momentum, but LHS pushed it to 11-4 after a kill from Ashley Gilbert.

With Emma Wagler serving, B-R rallied back to 7-12, but Lions quickly made it 16-9.

DeCoursey added an ace and B-R senior Sara Graber helped cut it back to 15-17, causing LHS to take a timeout. However, the Lady Lions were able to quickly get the lead back to six at 22-16.

A block kill from Hannah Bledsoe and DeCoursey made it 19-23, but LHS came up with the 25-20 win, and a 1-0 lead.

B-R opened with the first point, but Kylie VanHoy added a kill to tie it at 1-all. Jocelyn Strange added a kill for LHS to make it 5-2, while a kill from Abby Fuhrman made it 7-3.

After a long rally B-R was able to move to 6-7 and then tie it at 7-all before taking the lead.

The ties continued at 8,9 before LHS would go up by two. A pair of aces from Wagler helped push B-R back into the lead at 14-11.

However, LHS would battle back to 16-14, but again the teams would find themselves tied at 16. The continue the see-saw with ties at 20 and 21. Wagler added a kill to make it 23-21, before moving on to the 25-22 Viking win.

Ties marked the early part of game 3 as well, with a kill from B-R's Hannah Swartzentruber to make it 4-4. However, LHS ripped off the next four points, before the Vikes got the ball back.

The Lions maintained the lead at 10-6, before moving out to a 12-8 margin. Van Hoy added a block/kill that extended it to 16-8, while she also added a kill to make it 19-10, before coming away with the 25-11 win and a 2-1 lead.

B-R opened the fourth game with a 2-0 lead, and a kill from Sara Graber made it 4-1. Although LHS tied it at 4-all, a pair of aces from DeCoursey helped the Vikes back to 7-4 margin.

A block from Wagler and Bledsoe made it 10-7 and then 15-10. But the Lions came back to make it 14-15. B-R was able to get a little breathing room at 17-14, but with VanHoy serving it was again tied at 17. Colleen Trambaugh added an ace to make it 20-18 and maintained it to 22-18. An ace from Summers got LHS back to 21-23, before a kill from DeCoursey made it 25-21 and pushed it to the 15-point finale.

LHS moved out to a 2-1 margin in the final game, but with DeCoursey serving, B-R moved out to a 6-2 lead. After a Lion timeout, B-R extended it to 8-2 before the Lions got the serve back. with Trambaugh back at the line, B-R made it 11-6, but LHS began to chip away to make it 8-11.

However, B-R was able to get a final kill from DeCoursey to polish of the 15-9 win and gain the upper hand in the Blue Chip.

Loogootee travels to Blue River Valley on Saturday. The Vikings have three games next week starting with Wood Memorial on Monday.

In the JV match, B-R took the first game, 25-17, and then came from behind to win 25-22.