Andy Amey
The Tribune-Star
MECCA —
If there were any thoughts that a longtime high school volleyball rivalry between Terre Haute North and Riverton Parke may have outlived its usefulness, Saturday afternoon’s match between the two disparate neighbors may have served as the counterpoint to those opinions.
The visiting Patriots — taller, more experienced and a Class 4A program coming off the best season in its history — had to come from well behind twice before overcoming the scrappy Class A Panthers 25-21, 25-21, 25-13 in a day that benefitted both teams in different ways.
For the Patriots, the benefit was a lesson learned.
“We started off rough,” said Patriot senior Katlyn Anderson, whose serving Saturday may have been the difference in the match, “and [the Panthers] are a very, very good blocking team … [we learned] to go in with high intensity every game.”
For the Panthers, Saturday’s benefit may be a boost of confidence — or maybe that wasn’t necessary.
“I think we all went out thinking we could beat [the Patriots],” Riverton Parke setter Katelynn Rewers said after the match. “I’m happy we played right with them the first couple of games, but I think we should have won them. If we’d had our serves in, it could have been different.”
“We decided to wake up in game three,” coach Kris Painter of North said afterward. “[The Panthers] came to play today … I thought they had some good hitters, and we spent too much time tipping and scrambling ourselves. That gave them too many easy balls to hit.”
“We were flat in game three, because we had some nice leads in the first two games and weren’t able to close it,” coach John Memmer of the Panthers summarized.
Riverton Parke took the lead in the first game as two kills by Sheldan Falls and an ace by Sara Dickey led a 4-0 run for a 6-4 score, and the Panthers didn’t trail again for awhile. When they went on a 6-1 run that included a kill and an ace by Sara Dickey, their lead was 18-12.
A net violation turned serve over to Anderson with an 18-13 score, however, and she had two aces in a nine-point service run that also included three kills by Kinzi Kiefer and two kills and two blocks by Mary Kate Etling.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Anderson said when her game-changing run was mentioned later.
If the Patriots expected that to be the only threat offered by their hosts, they quickly learned otherwise. A five-point service run — including a pair of aces — by Alyssa Allen had Riverton Parke ahead 10-4 early in the second game, and the Panthers still led 16-11 on a block by Elizabeth Dickey shortly thereafter.
Anderson and Etling split four kills between them as North rallied to within a point, but Riverton Parke still led 18-17 when Anderson came to the service line again. She capped a four-point run with another ace and the Patriots didn’t trail again, taking a 19-6 lead in the third game.
“Our service game was very effective,” Painter agreed afterward. “Katlyn had those nice runs in the first two games, and in game three she started pounding the ball too [with five of her nine kills for the match].”
“Serving is very important,” Anderson agreed. “I’ve had the most aces [on our team] the last couple of years, and I want to keep it going.
“I’m not one of the tallest players,” added the 5-foot-6 Anderson, “so I have to put my ability in somewhere … [in the third game] I finally learned how to jump and snap on the ball [to hit more effectively].”
“The big thing that hurt us was North’s quicks and semiquick [attacks] up the middle,” Memmer said. “But I’m well pleased with our girls. I just wish we could’ve won one of those first two games.”
“I think we’re going to keep getting better,” promised Rewers.
Terre Haute North 25 25 25
Riverton Parke 21 21 13
Highlights — For North, Katlyn Anderson had 9 kills, 6 digs, 19 points and 6 aces; Laura Mauer had 33 assists, 2 digs, a block, 2 points and an ace; Kinzi Kiefer had 8 kills, 2 digs, a block, 10 points and 5 aces; Mary Kate Etling had 14 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs, an assist, 2 points and 2 aces; Danielle Krupa had 4 digs, 3 kills, a block, an assist, 7 points and 2 aces; Lauren Isaacs had 5 digs; Kristyn Moss had 2 kills; Niki Sneddon had a dig and a point; and Christina Fox had a dig.
For Riverton Parke, Sara Dickey had 13 digs, 10 kills, an assist, 4 points and 2 aces; Katelynn Rewers had 19 assists, a kill and 2 points; Sheldan Falls had 12 digs, 5 kills and 2 points; Elizabeth Dickey had 3 kills, 2 blocks, 5 points and 2 aces; Makenzie Pollard had 10 digs; Mikayla Grindle had 9 digs; Alyssa Allen had an assist, 5 points and 2 aces; Paige Yando had 4 blocks, a kill and a point; and Cassie Griffin had a kill and 3 points.
JV — North won 25-12, 25-11.
C team — North won 25-8, 25-9.
Next — North (5-1) is idle until a Sept. 9 match against Turkey Run. Riverton Parke (3-2) plays Tuesday at South Putnam.
