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PREP ROUNDUP: Young Clovers ‘gut’ out victory
CLOVERDALE — Kathy Moore has coached in a lot of North Putnam-Cloverdale volleyball matches, and she notes they have one thing in common.
“It always goes five sets, and it’s always a tough match,” the Clover coach said, after her team won 3-2. “The kids showed more determination and more drive and resolve to win.
“I haven’t seen that much this year,” Moore added. “We finally had that ‘gut’ to get it done.”
The Clovers won by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-15, 20-25 and 15-6.
The first set was close throughout, with the Clovers holding late advantages of 16-16 and 20-18. Following a trade of sideouts, Justyce Monnett of Cloverdale scored on a spike to force another sideout and make it 22-19.
Haley Maners stepped up to serve, and reeled off the final three points — one on an ace — to record the win.
The Cougars responded well in the second set by scoring the first five points behind the serving of Haley Abdon. They maintained that lead at 13-8 before reeling off three points to get some breathing room.
The Clovers cut it to 18-14, before a sideout and two points served by NP senior Lyndi Parent made it 21-14 and the Cougars held on to tie the match at 1-1.
It was Cloverdale’s turn to start strongly in the third set, scoring six points behind the strong serving of sophomore Hannah Rady — with half of those being aces.
The Clovers extended their lead to 12-3 before North Putnam chipped away and came within four at 13-9 with three straight points served by senior Grace Willard.
After a sideout, Monnett took over the serve and scored four straight points to put her team up 18-9. The Cougars couldn’t get any closer than eight points the remainder of the set, and trailed 2-1.
Continuing the pattern of alternating sets, North Putnam again started strongly in the fourth set and went up 5-1 behind the serving of senior Aleah Duncan.
Freshman Kenzie Stoltz then served three straight points after a sideout (two aces) to tie the score. The set remained close and was still tied at 17-17 and 20-20 before the Cougars got five straight service points from freshman Bradi Gierke to force a deciding fifth set.
Cloverdale jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the final set, still leading 11-7 before getting a point on a sideout and then three straight service points from Maners to wrap up the match.
“We’ve gone four sets so many times this year, it’s been unbelievable,” Moore said. “This was one of the few times we decided we were going to pull it out.”
The Clovers have just Simpson and Lauren Meek as seniors on their roster, and a large percentage of the minutes and production come from freshmen and sophomores.
“Things are starting to come together,” Moore said. “We still make some inexperienced mistakes. We talk about those and try to work on those. That just comes with playing and playing.
“I’m starting to see growth, and it’s the right time of the year,” she said. “I hope to see continued growth the next two weeks. They are going to be critical for us before going into the sectional.”
North Putnam coach LeeAnn Bryan saw improvement from her team.
“The Cougars improved a lot compared to the last few matches they faced,” she said.
Cloverdale won the JV match in two sets.
North Putnam 19 25 15 25 6
Cloverdale 25 17 25 20 15
North Putnam stats:
Bradi Gierke — 15 kills, 5 digs, 2 aces
Kinzey Young — 10 kills 2 digs
Haley Abdon — 13 digs, 3 kills
Ainslee Vogt — 9 assists, 7 digs
Lyndi Parent — 3 kills, 19assists, 4 digs, 3
Aleah Duncan — 12 digs
Grace Willard — 6 digs
Sara Fry — 6 digs
Bronwyn Spencer — 3 kills, 2 digs
Raven Gant — 4 digs
Cloverdale stats:
Hannah Rady — 16 points, 3 kills, 6 aces, 25 set-assists, 11 digs
Kenzie Stoltz — 15 points, 15 kills, 7 aces, 9 digs
Tori Combs — 19 kills, 3 blocks, 5 digs
Justyce Monnett — 8 kills, 2 digs
Kassie Wade — 2 kills, 3 digs
Hailey Thomas — 4 points, 1 kill, 13 digs
Lauren Meek — 2 points, 7 digs
Haley Maners — 4 points, 2 digs
Payten Simpson — 5 points, 10 digs
In other volleyball:
• Brown County 3, Cloverdale 1 — At Cloverdale, the Eagles defeated the Clovers 25-22, 25-20, 23-25 and 25-21 on Tuesday.
The Clover JV team also lost in two sets.
Cloverdale stats:
Hannah Rady — 25 set-assists, 17 points, 1 kill, 2 aces, 4 digs
Hailey Thomas — 9 points, 4 kills, 3 set-assists, 1 ace, 10 digs
Kenzie Stoltz — 8 points, 5 aces, season-high 13 kills, 7 digs
Payten Simpson — 7 points, 3 digs
Justyce Monnett — 6 points, 2 aces, 8 kills, 6 digs
Lauren Meek — 6 points, 2 aces, 1 kill
Tori Combs — 7 kills, 7 blocks, 4 digs
Kassie Wade — 1 kill
Lauren Meek — 9 digs
Haley Maners — 2 digs
Kiley Shedron — 2 digs
Coach Moore said, “Even though we lost, I thought we played more consistently through out the match. Each set was close and could have gone either way and this is an improvement for us.”
• Greencastle 3, Monrovia 0 — The Tiger Cubs the Bulldogs by scores of 26-24, 25-17 and 25-18.
Maggie Meyer had 30 digs for Greencastle, while Madison Trout added 18 digs, Jada Amis had four blocks and six kills, Sarah Miller had six kills, Jalyn Duff had 28 assists and Bailey Shuee had six kills.
“The girls did a nice job of minimizing unforced errors,” coach Maggie Walters.
Miller enjoyed the victory.
“I thought we played well and kept each other positive throughout the entire match,” she said. “It was a fun win.”
• Northview 3, South Putnam 0 — At Brazil, the Knights defeated the Eagles by scores of 25-6, 25-5 and 25-8.
South Putnam stats:
Kills — Caitlin Capps 2, and Drew Bratcher, Miranda Bieghler 1& Lillie Stein 1 each
Points — Caitlin Capps & Lexi Vanihel 1 each
Set assists — Miranda Bieghler 4, Drew Bratcher- 1
Digs — Miranda Bieghler 3, Lillie Stein 2, Ashley Schroer 2, Lexi Vanihel 1, Caitlin Capps 1, Masey Chambers 1
The Eagles’ JV lost in two sets by the scores of 5-25 and 12- 25.
South Putnam stat leaders:
Points — Brianna Robinson 3, Sydney Jackman 2, Abby Teipen 2, Alex Bratcher 1
Digs — Alex Bratcher 3, Abby Teipen 2, Keira Wells 2, Jalen Hughbanks 2, Brianna Robinson1
The Eagles will compete in the Riverton Parke Tourney on Saturday.
• Clay City 2, Cloverdale 0 — The seventh-grade Lady Clovers lost to Clay City on Tuesday night by scores of 16-25 and 14-25.
Leading the team in serves were Chloe Sprinkle, Audrie Fulkerson, and Veronica Carter with three each.
The girls play in their county tournament this Saturday.
Soccer
• Greencastle (boys) 8, Edgewood 1 — At Ellettsville, the Tiger Cubs easily defeated on Tuesday the team they will play on Saturday in the conference championship match.
Seth Nichols and Hector Lezama each had two goals, while Ben Wilkerson, Evan Crowe and Ben Parsons each had one. Simon Foss added a penalty kick goal.
Parsons had two assists, while Foss, Crowe, Wilkerson and Nichols each had one assist.
“This match was a great win to prepare us for the conference final,” Greencastle coach J.D. Sims said. “We came out very sluggish and had a lot of dangerous passing.
“Through some changes and players getting vocal with one another we were able to turn it around.”
Sims thought Nichols had an “excellent” match.
“He looked more dangerous than he has all season,” Sims said. “Evan Crowe as well looked very dangerous and scored the goal of the game with a beautiful ball shot in the right hand corner from outside the box.
“Everyone participated in the scoring again, which excites me.”
Sims and the team realize that Tuesday’s outcome will have no bearing on Saturday’s championship contest.
“The boys understand we have to keep focused, because that score does not represent how Saturday will be,” Sims said. “Edgewood will be out for blood and they three days off before our match and we will only have one.
“Everyone is ready to bring home the conference title.”
Tennis
• South Putnam 4, Linton 1 — The Eagles closed out the regular season by winning all three singles matches and No. 1 doubles.
“The guys played some awesome tennis,” SP coach Johnny Briones said. “We used power and finesse when we needed to, and we conquered the mental game.”
Briones was pleased with the timing of the big win, after his team had lost many close matches recently.
“I am very proud of everyone, and it was a great way to end the regular season,” he said. “This give us great momentum going into the sectional.”
The Eagles will play in the Northview sectional starting on Wednesday.
South Putnam 4, Linton 1
Singles — 1. Thomas Fanning (SP) def. Bryden Allen (L) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 10-8; 2. Ty Vansickle (SP) def. Dane Witty (L) 6-4, 6-0; 3. Austin Arnold (SP) def. Cory Anderson (L) 3-6, 6-0, 6-0
Doubles — 1. Noah Emmerich-Tanner Pistelli (SP) def. Sammy Robbins-Silas Robbins (L) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; 2. Evan Slover-Kyle Anderson (L) def. Jared Seidler-Creigh Remsburg (SP_) 6-0, 6-4
• Greencastle 4, Owen Valley 1 — At Spencer, the Tiger Cubs won all matches on Thursday except No. 2 doubles.
No other information was available.
Greencastle will close out the home regular season on Saturday by hosting Danville.