North Putnam season ends in regional
SPEEDWAY -- North Putnam's volleyball team fell in the IHSAA Regional match at Speedway Tuesday but the Cougars didn't go quietly. In the third and final set North Putnam was down 19-11 and fought its way back in it to give the Sparkplugs a scare before finally succumbing to the strong attackers on the Speedway team.
"The girls are disappointed," NPHS coach Brandy Dickson said. "We kind of had a slow start. I was really proud of the way we fought back at the end. (Speedway) thought the game was over and we scored at least five or six more points against them in a row."
The run to regional has at times been tough for North Putnam, which had high aspirations throughout. However the Cougars were consistent in their effort as the season wore on.
"It think it's been nice because we've been able to make little goals here and there," Dickson said. "We wanted to win county and that didn't work out. It was nice to beat our county opponents in the regular season. Obviously beating Greencastle was huge for us. That game was very personal for many of them."
"I'll tell you that with coming into a much tougher conference and for us to finish fourth and to have been in contention for first or second at one point, I couldn't be prouder."
The Cougars were coming off of their first sectional title since 1989 and since the beginning of the year North Putnam always wanted to take the tournament even with the previous disappointment.
"Our next goal obviously was to move through sectional," Dickson said, "and they did it. We knew going in all year we could do it. When the going got tough they did it. It was a great feeling and it was so exciting today. The community was great sending us off with the police escorts, the signs and the pep session they had for us. It was great to see volleyball getting so popular."
The season will see the loss of five seniors, Raegan Bowling, Taylor Nauert, Sierra Spencer, Adri Millican and Hannah Gray, who have been involved with Cougar volleyball and around coach Dickson for quite some time.
"I think that our team has a lot of determination," Dickson said. "It's been a great year with a great group of girls. We are sorely going to miss our seniors. I've been around them since they were seventh-graders and I've seen them grow so much and develop not only as volleyball players but emotionally. They've turned into wonderful women I guess I have to say. I'm so proud of them and I care about them very much.
IHSAA Sec. 44
At Speedway Regional
Regional Final
North Putnam 14 14 18
Speedway 22 25 25