TERRE HAUTE —
Terre Haute South did what it could against Northview’s myriad of big-swinging offensive weapons Tuesday in high school volleyball inside the Braves’ gym, forcing long rally after long rally.
Defense was the story for the Braves when they evened the match at one game apiece. Ashley Bazier and Brittney Pink combined for a block to tie it at 18-18 and Pink’s block of Brylie Riddell put the Braves ahead two.
Bazier set up Pink for the kill that won the second game of a five-game match, but the Knights bounced back in the third as McKenzi Kumpf delivered two kills in the final three points.
Kumpf finished with a match-high total of 21 kills in the marathon match, which was won by Northview by scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 18-25, 15-12.
Riddell inched closer to becoming Northview’s all-time leader in matches won, winning her 100th as a Knight. The senior had 16 kills and four blocks.
“What a great night to get it, with a 15-13 Game 5 win at South. Just a great night of volleyball,” Northview coach Scott McDonald said.
South regained control in the fourth game thanks to more solid blocking at the net. Bailee Williams combined for a block of Mikayla Rowan, and Pink and Bazier stopped a swing by Kumpf as South took a 14-11 lead and forced a Knights’ timeout.
Etling and Williams came together for another block to force the fifth game.
Pink and Etling led the Braves with 41⁄2 blocks apiece, while Williams had 31⁄2 and Bazier 3.
“Our defense was fine. Our serve receive was fine. Our hitting is what hurt us tonight,” South coach Madison Minnick said.
South’s offense failed to get itself in a good attack mode as the two teams battled early in the fifth game. The Knights stretched their lead to 10-4, but South still battled. Freshman Riley Davis served up a clutch ace to make it 10-7, but the Knights answered with kills by Riddell and Rowan that made it 12-9.
Maddie Callahan, who ended up with a team-high 14 kills, had a powerful swing to make it 12-10 and Marissa Coutinho, who contributed a match-best 21 digs, placed a ball down the sideline to even it up. A violation against South at the net and an attack error set up Kumpf for the match-clinching kill.
“Everybody was getting good swings,” said Kumpf. “We couldn’t do it without team. It’s a team win for everything. They beat us earlier this season in a tournament. It’s great to come back and be able to win against them.”
McDonald said setters Taylor Hess and Madison McDonald were able to get the ball to Kumpf in big spots.
“I thought we were able to push [Kumpf] to the pin a little bit more and utilize her intelligence. She’s a really smart hitter, and was able to find some holes,” McDonald said.
It was a tight match just like the first one between the two rivals.
“It was very similar. It was close. We made more unforced errors this time. Our hitting errors were astronomical compared to what they were last time,” Minnick said.
McDonald thought the Braves were impressive.
“They are really good. They passed really well tonight. That’s what hurt us. We tried to put a lot of pressure on them at serve, but we missed too many. They blocked a lot as well,” McDonald said.
Could a third meeting be down the road? If so, it would be in the Class 4A sectional, and Minnick hopes her team is better prepared to deliver offensively.
“We had a gameplan and we didn’t quite execute quite like we needed to. Our hitting just wasn’t where it normally is or where it needed to be tonight,” Minnick said. “We’re just looking forward to the sectional now. That’s the next time we’d get to see them.”
Northview 25 22 25 18 15
Terre Haute South 23 25 18 25 12
Highlights — For Northview, Audrey Clark had 19 digs; Taylor Hess 21 assists and 4 digs; Madison McDonald 24 assists, 8 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks; Brylie Riddell 16 kills, 5 digs and 4 blocks; Shlebi Morris 9 kills; McKenzi Kumpf 21 kills and 3 digs; Mikayla Rowan 4 kills; and Morgan Stearley 4 kills and a block. For Terre Haute South, Maddie Callahan 14 kills; Brittney Pink had 13 kills, 41⁄2 blocks; Meaghan Etling 9 kills and 41⁄2 blocks; Bailee Williams 31⁄3 blocks and 4 killis; Elizabeth Weber 8 kills; Ashley Bazier 3 blocks; Marissa Coutinho 21 digs; Saya Harazaki 15 digs; and Kaitlynn Gilmore 11 digs.
Next — Terre Haute South (9-8) plays Thursday at Terre Haute North. Northview (15-4) plays host to Brown County on Tuesday.
High School
Northview downs South volleyball in 5 sets
- High School
-
-
Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year
When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.
But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.
-
Post 346 opens tournament with two victories
Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School. -
North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals
Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
“He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field. -
Big hill to climb for North golf
Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.
-
Top of her game
There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.
-
Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney
Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.
-
Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf
Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.
-
North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional
Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.
-
Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional
Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.
-
Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals
Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.
-
Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals
Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.
-
Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic
Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.
-
IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone
It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.
-
Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals
Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.
-
Patriots girls take aim at state track title
Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.
-
South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals
Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.
-
Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves
- PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game
-
South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West
Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.
-
Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran
Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.
The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional
Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.
-
Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over
Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.
-
Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers
The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.
-
Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade
Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.
-
Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy
In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.
-
Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final
Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.
-
Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed
Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed. A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.
-
South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball
There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.
-
West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional
West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.
-
South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate
Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
“It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
- More High School Headlines
-




