Brazil — Simply winning the Martinsville Sectional in high school volleyball last week, the school’s first championship in the sport in Class 4A, might have been enough for the Northview girls.
But the way the Knights accomplished that feat — falling behind two games to one against Plainfield and two games to none in matches against Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North before winning a trio of five-gamers that had their many fans on the edge of hysteria — made things all that much more impressive and left them with a good feeling as they head to the Seymour Regional on Saturday.
“I’m still shocked,” said Ali Sharton, one of the team’s two senior captains.
“I don’t have a word for it,” agreed Brittaney Long, the other captain. “It’s the most unbelievable feeling.”
“This is definitely the best I’ve felt in a really long time,” said junior Hannah Hayes.
“It’s like the best feeling ever,” summarized junior
Kaylee Clark.
“I could not stop smiling all weekend.”
“After what these kids went through [to win the sectional], the environment [at the regional] shouldn’t be overwhelming,” coach Scott McDonald said this week. “They faced elimination eight times. We’ve tested our mettle.”
The Knights remain at a loss to explain just how they forged those three comebacks, although they give a lot of credit to their team unity. When Alyssa Clarke, one of their senior regulars who was having an exceptionally strong match, suffered a season-ending injury against Plainfield last Thursday, that seemed to only strengthen the team’s resolve.
“We were playing it for each other and for Alyssa,” said Sharton. “She wanted [the sectional championship] more than anybody. Sam [fellow senior Samantha Solomon, who took Clarke’s spot in the lineup] stepped up, and every huddle we said, ‘Play with our heart, and play for Alyssa.’”
“After seeing Alyssa sitting there [after her injury] smiling and trying to keep everybody else up, we knew we had to do it,” said Long.
Hayes, who has several roles on the team and who is possibly the most emotional member of a group that takes a back seat to no one in that area, helped provide a boost that enabled the Knights to win their last two games against Plainfield.
But on Saturday morning against South, probably the Knights’ biggest volleyball rival, the Knights suffered a gut-wrenching, come-from-ahead first-game loss that almost derailed the entire operation.
“At the start of the third game, I was out there crying on the court, and so was Brittaney,” Sharton admitted this week. “Mac [McDonald] wasn’t happy with us.”
“It took a lot for us to get up,” said Hayes.
But the Knights got things going in the third game and Clark’s serving, a strong point throughout the sectional, got the fourth game off to a good start. The last two games against the Braves weren’t all that close, and after that the loss of two close games to North in the championship match didn’t seem to bother the Knights at all.
“That’s the way North beat us [in the regular season], so to [beat the Patriots] the exact same way made it so much better,” Clark said this week.
Now the Knights face the state’s third-ranked team, Floyd Central, knowing they have a few things going for them.
“Our whole team has been really good friends for awhile,” Long said. “We’re open with each other, and that’s helped us bond and keep together.”
“We’re all close as a team — sisters,” said Sharton. “Our chemistry is really strong.”
“We know that we are basically like a family,” said Clark. “We feed off each other’s energy so well.”
“We learned that our team has a lot of heart,” said Hayes, “that we can come together in tough times and be successful. Become one.”
High School
Northview’s volleyball team riding high into regional
- High School
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South’s Lough to wrestle for state title
The day didn’t start in a promising fashion for Wabash Valley high school wrestlers at the Evansville Semistate in Ford Center on Saturday — but it got better as it went along.
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TERRE HAUTE NORTH SECTIONAL: Mooresville tops South for fourth straight title
For Terre Haute South High School girls basketball fans, it might sound good that the Braves did not miss a shot in the first four minutes of their Class 4A Terre Haute North Sectional championship game Saturday.
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BLOOMFIELD SECTIONAL: Sullivan rebounds from tough start for title
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Sullivan struggled mightily in the first half, eerily reminiscent of its eventual elimination in the final seconds of overtime by Edgewood in last year’s Class 3A girls basketball sectional. -
CLAY CITY SECTIONAL: Eels take third straight sectional crown
Clay City stood up to the pressure and to the Shakamak Lakers on Saturday night to win a third straight Class A sectional championship in the Eel Dome.
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NORTH VERMILLION SECTIONAL: Twenty years in the waiting
The Super Bowl came to a new city. A presidential election was ongoing. And Riverton Parke won a girls basketball sectional.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rox clinch WRC
Class A No. 8-ranked Rockville knocked off Attica 50-35 in boys high school basketball Saturday afternoon, clinching the Wabash River Conference championship in the process.
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THN SECTIONAL: Braves to play Mooresville for sectional title tonight
Terre Haute South continued to show what’s new and Terre Haute North unfortunately reverted back to what’s old in Class 4A high school girls basketball sectional action Friday night at North.
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OWEN VALLEY SECTIONAL: Eagles bring Vikes down to earth
Baby steps. A baby takes that first step and grins, then attempts the second step and tumbles. The West Vigo High School girls took their first step with a victory Tuesday night in the Class 3A basketball sectional at Owen Valley.
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BLOOMFIELD SECTIONAL: Sullivan jumps to early lead in sectional victory
Sullivan jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were never threatened in a dominant 48-25 win over Eastern Greene in a semifinal game of the Class 2A Bloomfield girls basketball sectional inside Glover Gymnasium on Friday.
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North Vermillion Sectional: Panthers, Falcons to meet for NV title
Outstanding defense and quality passing landed Riverton Parke in the championship game of the Class A North Vermillion Sectional. The Panthers will have to get through the host school tonight in order to secure the program’s first sectional crown since 1992.
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South swimmers don’t advance at Finals
Terre Haute South’s trip to the IHSAA girls swimming state finals at the Indiana University Natatorium was a short one Friday night.
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South runs into talented North Central team
Terre Haute South players and coaches knew when they got off the bus Saturday afternoon that they couldn’t run with the Class 4A No. 3-ranked Indianapolis North Central Panthers.
But they tried anyway. -
BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Duncan’s OT free throws help Marshall down H-P
Jacob Duncan hit four free throws in overtime Friday night as visiting Marshall defeated Hutsonville-Palestine 51-49 in Little Illini Conference action.
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O'Leary pours in career-high 34 for Terre Haute North
Matt O’Leary poured in a career-high 34 points, 17 in each half, to lead Terre Haute North to a dominant 69-46 home victory over Center Grove in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference boys high school basketball Saturday afternoon.
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Davis hits layup in double overtime to lift Terre Haute North at Bloomington North
Playing without their two leading scorers against a team that — most of the time — seemed more determined to win than they did, Terre Haute North's Patriots got a driving layup from Steven Davis with 2.8 seconds left in the second overtime to escape Bloomington North with a 54-52 win in high school basketball Thursday night.
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Sullivan stays on top of WIC for third straight year
Western Indiana Conference boys basketball teams have been trying to storm the Sullivan castle for three years now. The Golden Arrows have endured nearly every kind of strategy in the effort to breech their wall. West Vigo tried a few more on Thursday in a showdown for the WIC championship.
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South girls looking for solid performances at swimming state finals
One individual and one relay team, which includes that same individual, will represent Terre Haute South in the IHSAA girls swimming state finals today and possibly Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cesinger, Jones each score 24 in Clay City win
Blake Cesinger and Brylan Jones poured in 24 points apiece to lead visiting Clay City over North Central 67-53 in SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference boys high school basketball Thursday night.
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Teutopolis knocks off record-setting Marshall girls in regional championship
Marshall jumped ahead 4-0 only to watch Teutopolis score the next 11 points Thursday in the championship game of the Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
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Sullivan wins battle in low post
Sullivan dominated the low block at both ends of the court Wednesday to defeat South Knox 43-30.
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State wrestling berths won't come easily
If high school wrestlers thought regional competition was tough last weekend, they can expect the competition, as Keegan Michael Key used to say on MADtv, taken to “a whole notha level” on Saturday.
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South pulls upset
Plainfield’s 16-5 record made the Quakers the team to beat in the Class 4A Terre Haute North Sectional.
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Vikings break long sectional drought
You’ll have to forgive West Vigo for celebrating just a wee bit prior to the postgame handshake with South Vermillion, but its first victory in a sectional game in 11 years was worthy of celebrating.
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PREP ROUNDUP: RP rolls past Attica
Riverton Parke jumped to a 20-point halftime lead and easily defeated Attica 59-34 in the Class A North Vermillion girls basketball sectional on Tuesday.
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They’re the pride of Marshall
With a 24-1 record, coach Kathy Miller’s Marshall team earned the top seed in the Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
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Union season more fun with Talpas around
The Union boys basketball team has had its share of fun moments in the past, arguably the most fun being its Class A state runner-up in 2000.
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Injury bug follows girls into postseason
Who’s healthy is the question at least three of the four teams will be asking tonight when Class 4A girls high school basketball sectional play begins at Terre Haute North.
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Rockville needs late run to stop West Vigo
It was a game of fits and starts, but host Rockville finally overcame a stiff challenge from visiting West Vigo in a 53-46 victory in boys high basketball action on Saturday.
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Northview holds off Plainfield
Northview got its sixth victory in boys high school basketball action Saturday night, defeating Plainfield 59-56.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cloverdale helps Rady to career win No. 714
Brandon Dorman and Joe Fidler combined for 37 points and six 3-pointers Saturday night as visiting Cloverdale defeated Turkey Run 63-45 in boys high school basketball.
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