Three Local Volleyball Teams Advance To Regionals
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Three local volleyball won sectional titles last week to advance to Saturday regionals.
Warsaw (25-8) tangles with No. 9 McCutcheon (30-6) in the Huntington North 4A Regional. NorthWood (28-7) must try to solve No. 2 Yorktown (32-2), which advanced to the state finals last year, in the Peru 3A Regional. Triton, ranked No. 5 in class A with a 27-9 record, meets No. 2 Adams Central (28-6) in the Triton A Regional.
No. 9 McCutcheon vs. Warsaw
Second-year coach Tanya Coon and her Warsaw Tigers face a team built opposite of them.
Warsaw is a team with no superstar individuals; McCutcheon is a team built around one star, 5-foot-9 middle hitter Kory Tull.
Tull has set the school record for kills in a career and in a season. This year she has 539 kills, breaking the school record of 502 kills in a season.
Tull also leads the team in total blocks (168), digs (294) and is second in aces (45).
She plans to play Division I volleyball and is considering Butler, Indiana-Purdue University in Indianapolis or Ohio State.
"She's not the tallest player, but she is very athletic," first-year McCutcheon coach Jill Shambaugh said. "She is our go-to player. She's very good in anything she does. She's a good server."
By comparison, Warsaw's kills leader is Kara Kesler, who had 91 at the end of the season. The Tigers' digs leader is Amie Poling, who has fewer than 90. Myra Sells leads in blocks, Poling in aces and Abby Sumpter in assists.
But Coon loves the way her team is built, with different people leading in different categories.
"McCutcheon has one big player, one good player," she said. "I prefer to face a one-player team. You can contend with one player.
"I believe a one-player team should be able to be beaten by a balanced team.
"We stack up pretty well with the rest of the teams."
As different as the teams seem to be, Shambaugh believes they also are similar.
"I know Warsaw is a fairly tall team that plays well as a team and doesn't get rattled easily," she said. "They have seven seniors, so they are a seasoned team. For a high school offense, they run a pretty quick offense. Tournaments we've played in, we've seen that kind of offense with movement in the middle.
"A couple of coaches I talked to said Warsaw and us are similar in that both teams keep playing hard and don't get rattled easily."
McCutcheon is in the regional for the first time since the school's last great run. The school went to the regional every year from 1986 through 1989, but this is the school's first return to the regional level in 11 years. Warsaw's last regional title came in 1996.
The winner of the McCutcheon/Warsaw game will face the winner of the Marion (28-8)/Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) game in the regional championship.
"Every time we've played Snider, we've stayed with them," Coon said. "We can play with Snider. The times we lost were because of our errors."
Warsaw and McCutcheon did not meet during the regular season, nor were the two schools ever at the same tournament.
No. 9 (4A) McCutcheon
Coach/years: Jill Shambaugh/first
Record: 30-6
Regional: Huntington North 4A
Opening match: vs. Warsaw (25-8) at approximately noon-12:30 p.m. Saturday; follows Marion (28-8) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) at 11 a.m.; championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Lost to Avon in McCutcheon Sectional
How McCutcheon got here: McCutcheon def. Brownsburg 15-5, 15-9; McCutcheon def. Harrison (West Lafayette) 15-4, 11-15, 15-10; McCutcheon def. Lafayette Jefferson 15-12, 15-10
Last regional title: 1989
Leaders: Kills - Kory Tull 539 (broke school's season record of 502), Heather Caudill 236; aces - Caudill 50, Tull 45; total blocks - Tull 168; digs - Tull 294; assists - Kayla Cheeseman 938
Warsaw
Coach/years: Tanya Coon/second
Record: 25-8
Regional: Huntington North 4A
Opening match: vs. No. 9 McCutcheon (30-6) approximately at noon-12:30 p.m. Saturday; follows Marion (28-8) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) at 11 a.m.; championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Warsaw lost in Concord Sectional
How Warsaw got here: Warsaw def. Concord (13-16) 15-11, 15-9; Warsaw def. Elkhart Memorial (26-8) 8-15, 15-7, 15-13 in Concord Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1996
Leaders: Kills - Kara Kesler 106, Lindsay Woods 85, Kristen DeGeeter 84; blocks - Myra Sells 93, Kesler 60, DeGeeter 51; aces - Amie Poling 14, Andrea Saldivar 13, Woods 13; assists -ÊAbby Sumpter 395; digs - Poling 81, Kesler 80, Saldivar 50
No. 2 (A) Adams Central
vs. No. 5 (A) Triton
Triton beat Adams Central in the first round of last year's Triton A Regional.
"We won the first match 15-3," 15th-year Adams Central coach Joan Gross said, "then our middle hitter went down with an ankle injury. Our team fell apart and lost to Triton."
This match has the same story line as McCutcheon/Warsaw. Adams Central has the superstar; Triton is the team with several solid players.
Leading Adams Central is four-year varsity middle hitter Leeanne Gross, daughter of coach Joan Gross. Leeanne Gross is first on the team in kills (516), solo blocks (58), digs (268) and aces (67). She plans to play volleyball in college but is still debating at what level, Division I or Division II.
"We're not gonna stop her," 14th-year Triton coach Gayle Perry said. "She'll get her kills. But we intend to put a good block against her, and we want to make sure the other five don't beat us. I look at it as we have five hitters. I don't think they can key in on anyone on our team."
Balanced Triton has different leaders in different stat categories. Brandie Ganshorn leads in kills, Betsy Salyer in blocks, Beth Workman in assists and Amber Feldman in digs. In comparison to Gross' 516 kills, Ganshorn has fewer than 200 for Triton.
"I know Triton is a very sound team," Joan Gross said. "Their strength is probably their back court. They have a couple of nice middle hitters. I think their coach does a really nice job of getting her team motivated. I think them playing on their home court is big. It probably will mean 10 points, somewhere in that area."
Like Warsaw coach Tanya Coon, Perry likes her chances with her balanced team.
"It's been my experience that when it comes to teams built around one player, when things start to go bad, the team cracks," Perry said, "because they don't have anyone else who's going to step up that they can turn to."
Perry downplayed Triton's regional win over Adams Central last year as being a major factor this season.
"They're ranked No. 2, it's their ranking to defend," she said. "They're supposed to beat us."
Adams Central has won three straight sectional titles and has five in school history. Triton owns two straight sectional titles and three in school history. Adams Central owns one regional title, while Triton seeks its first.
Adams Central's 28 wins are the most in one season in school history, but Gross stopped short of calling this her best team.
"I think this team has to continue winning to be the best team in school history," she said. "If we would have had class ball then, I would have had some teams in the early 1990s that probably would have gone to state.
"This has been the best comeback team I have ever coached. We were down 14-2 to Blackhawk Christian, who is in this regional, and came back to win 16-14 to win the match during the regular season. Last week we were down to Wes-Del and came back to win."
Adams Central advanced to the regional by beating No. 6 Wes-Del 15-13, 12-15, 17-15 in the Wes-Del Sectional in a match that saw Adams Central tally 110 digs. Triton advanced by smashing 21-11 South Central 15-4, 15-2 in the Argos Sectional.
The winner of Adams Central/Triton will face the winner of No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2)/Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8). Marquette beat Triton in last year's regional championship match.
Both coaches warned against prematurely making Marquette the regional champion.
"I think Marquette is an outstanding team, but they played 15 1A teams while we played three 1A teams," Joan Gross said.
Said Perry: "We had big wins at the season, and we seem to be peaking at the right time. We feel extremely confident. We feel we can take Adams Central.
"We beat them last year. We're not looking past Adams Central, but we expect to be in the championship match. And as the kids put it, we've lost to Marquette long enough."
No. 2 (A) Adams Central
Coach/years: Joan Gross/15th
Record: 28-6
Regional: Triton A
Opening match: vs. No. 5 (A) Triton (27-9) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2) vs. Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Adams Central lost to Triton in Triton A Regional first round
How Adams Central got here: Adams Central def. Marion Lakeview Christian 15-1, 15-2; Adams Central def. No. 6 Wes-Del 15-13, 12-15, 17-15 in Wes-Del Sectional championship
Last regional title: Adams Central has one regional title (year not available)
Leaders: Kills - Leeanne Gross 516 (.383 kill percentage); solo blocks - Gross 58; digs - Gross 268; aces - Gross 67
No. 5 (A) Triton
Coach/years: Gayle Perry/14th
Record: 27-9
Regional: Triton A
Opening match: vs. No. 2 Adams Central (28-6) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2) vs. Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8)
Last year: Triton lost to Michigan City Marquette in regional championship
How Triton got here: Triton def. Culver Community (4-19) 15-2, 15-1; Triton def. Argos (8-24) 15-1, 15-8; Triton def. South Central (21-11) 15-4, 15-2 in Argos Sectional championship
Last regional title: Triton does not have a volleyball regional title
Leaders (*regular season only): Kills - Brandie Ganshorn 177, Amber Feldman 136; *blocks - Betsy Salyer 39; assists - Beth Workman 387, Melissa Claxon 214; *digs - Feldman 210, Janell Salisbury 163, Ganshorn 149, Workman 135, Rachel Speicher 133; *aces - Feldman 20, Salisbury 18, Workman 17
No. 2 (3A) Yorktown
vs. NorthWood
Give Yorktown credit for earning its way into the Peru 3A Regional.
Yorktown beat No. 10 Pendleton Heights 15-5, 15-11 in the first round of the sectional then beat No. 5 Delta, an annual volleyball powerhouse, 15-11, 15-6 on its home floor in the Delta Sectional.
"Anytime you play in a very competitive tournament," first-year Yorktown coach Kenna Jones said, "it helps you get ready for the next level. We probably played in the toughest sectional in the state."
Then again, winning sectional was expected. Last year Yorktown advanced to the class 3A state finals and lost to Indianapolis Chatard.
"And they have the same team as last year that went to the state finals," 10th-year NorthWood coach Peg Bough said of Yorktown.
NorthWood, which advanced to the semistate in 1997 and 1998, has played well in big games this season. The Panthers beat No. 10 Pendleton Heights during the season and won at Mishawaka Marian 6-15, 15-7, 16-14 on Oct. 6. Marian ended the season ranked No. 3, one spot behind Yorktown in the 3A poll.
Pendleton Heights was one of the two teams to beat Yorktown during the regular season. The other was Delta.
The wins over Pendleton Heights and Mishawaka Marian are the wins Bough will remind her team of.
"We're familiar with Muncie teams," she said. "The last two semistates we went to, we were beaten by Delta, so we know that caliber of volleyball. Most Muncie teams serve so well. We serve just to get the ball in. You have to be prepared to receive their serves."
Said Jones: "We have a diverse team with no one go-to person. Every time the ball is set, we have three people on our front line who can score. Our serving and passing are the main things we focus on."
Yorktown's trip to the state finals came in the year the school won its first regional volleyball title.
"We hope we can take away some of their offense away by blocking," Bough said. "If we pass well and hit well, we should be able to take away from their offense."
NorthWood and Yorktown did not play during the regular season, nor did the teams compete at the same tournament.
No. 2 (3A) Yorktown
Coach/years: Kenna Jones/first
Record: 32-2
Regional: Peru 3A
Opening match: vs. NorthWood (28-7) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 4 Fort Wayne Concordia (32-2) vs. Bellmont (21-15); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Yorktown won Peru 3A Regional, the first regional title in school history; advanced to the state finals and lost to Indianapolis Cathedral
How Yorktown got here: Yorktown def. No. 10 Pendleton Heights 15-5, 15-11; Yorktown def. No. 5 Delta 15-11, 15-6 in Delta Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1999
Leaders: N/A
NorthWood
Coach/years: Peg Bough/10th
Record: 28-7
Regional: Peru 3A
Opening match: vs. No. 2 (3A) Yorktown at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 4 Fort Wayne Concordia (32-2) vs. Bellmont (21-15); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: NorthWood lost in Northridge Sectional
How NorthWood got here: NorthWood def. Wawasee (22-11) 15-12, 15-4; NorthWood def. Lakeland (19-13) 15-9, 15-9; NorthWood def. Northridge (13-18) 15-7, 15-2 in Northridge Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1998
Leaders (sectional stats not included): Kills -ÊCarol Duncan 272, Kasey Chamberlin 192, Katie Chamberlin 189; assists - Allison Taylor 318, Kasey
Chamberlin 259; digs - Jessica Yoder 232, Duncan 215, Kasey Chamberlin 200, Katie Chamberlin 188; solo blocks - Duncan 57 [[In-content Ad]]
Three local volleyball won sectional titles last week to advance to Saturday regionals.
Warsaw (25-8) tangles with No. 9 McCutcheon (30-6) in the Huntington North 4A Regional. NorthWood (28-7) must try to solve No. 2 Yorktown (32-2), which advanced to the state finals last year, in the Peru 3A Regional. Triton, ranked No. 5 in class A with a 27-9 record, meets No. 2 Adams Central (28-6) in the Triton A Regional.
No. 9 McCutcheon vs. Warsaw
Second-year coach Tanya Coon and her Warsaw Tigers face a team built opposite of them.
Warsaw is a team with no superstar individuals; McCutcheon is a team built around one star, 5-foot-9 middle hitter Kory Tull.
Tull has set the school record for kills in a career and in a season. This year she has 539 kills, breaking the school record of 502 kills in a season.
Tull also leads the team in total blocks (168), digs (294) and is second in aces (45).
She plans to play Division I volleyball and is considering Butler, Indiana-Purdue University in Indianapolis or Ohio State.
"She's not the tallest player, but she is very athletic," first-year McCutcheon coach Jill Shambaugh said. "She is our go-to player. She's very good in anything she does. She's a good server."
By comparison, Warsaw's kills leader is Kara Kesler, who had 91 at the end of the season. The Tigers' digs leader is Amie Poling, who has fewer than 90. Myra Sells leads in blocks, Poling in aces and Abby Sumpter in assists.
But Coon loves the way her team is built, with different people leading in different categories.
"McCutcheon has one big player, one good player," she said. "I prefer to face a one-player team. You can contend with one player.
"I believe a one-player team should be able to be beaten by a balanced team.
"We stack up pretty well with the rest of the teams."
As different as the teams seem to be, Shambaugh believes they also are similar.
"I know Warsaw is a fairly tall team that plays well as a team and doesn't get rattled easily," she said. "They have seven seniors, so they are a seasoned team. For a high school offense, they run a pretty quick offense. Tournaments we've played in, we've seen that kind of offense with movement in the middle.
"A couple of coaches I talked to said Warsaw and us are similar in that both teams keep playing hard and don't get rattled easily."
McCutcheon is in the regional for the first time since the school's last great run. The school went to the regional every year from 1986 through 1989, but this is the school's first return to the regional level in 11 years. Warsaw's last regional title came in 1996.
The winner of the McCutcheon/Warsaw game will face the winner of the Marion (28-8)/Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) game in the regional championship.
"Every time we've played Snider, we've stayed with them," Coon said. "We can play with Snider. The times we lost were because of our errors."
Warsaw and McCutcheon did not meet during the regular season, nor were the two schools ever at the same tournament.
No. 9 (4A) McCutcheon
Coach/years: Jill Shambaugh/first
Record: 30-6
Regional: Huntington North 4A
Opening match: vs. Warsaw (25-8) at approximately noon-12:30 p.m. Saturday; follows Marion (28-8) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) at 11 a.m.; championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Lost to Avon in McCutcheon Sectional
How McCutcheon got here: McCutcheon def. Brownsburg 15-5, 15-9; McCutcheon def. Harrison (West Lafayette) 15-4, 11-15, 15-10; McCutcheon def. Lafayette Jefferson 15-12, 15-10
Last regional title: 1989
Leaders: Kills - Kory Tull 539 (broke school's season record of 502), Heather Caudill 236; aces - Caudill 50, Tull 45; total blocks - Tull 168; digs - Tull 294; assists - Kayla Cheeseman 938
Warsaw
Coach/years: Tanya Coon/second
Record: 25-8
Regional: Huntington North 4A
Opening match: vs. No. 9 McCutcheon (30-6) approximately at noon-12:30 p.m. Saturday; follows Marion (28-8) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (30-7) at 11 a.m.; championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Warsaw lost in Concord Sectional
How Warsaw got here: Warsaw def. Concord (13-16) 15-11, 15-9; Warsaw def. Elkhart Memorial (26-8) 8-15, 15-7, 15-13 in Concord Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1996
Leaders: Kills - Kara Kesler 106, Lindsay Woods 85, Kristen DeGeeter 84; blocks - Myra Sells 93, Kesler 60, DeGeeter 51; aces - Amie Poling 14, Andrea Saldivar 13, Woods 13; assists -ÊAbby Sumpter 395; digs - Poling 81, Kesler 80, Saldivar 50
No. 2 (A) Adams Central
vs. No. 5 (A) Triton
Triton beat Adams Central in the first round of last year's Triton A Regional.
"We won the first match 15-3," 15th-year Adams Central coach Joan Gross said, "then our middle hitter went down with an ankle injury. Our team fell apart and lost to Triton."
This match has the same story line as McCutcheon/Warsaw. Adams Central has the superstar; Triton is the team with several solid players.
Leading Adams Central is four-year varsity middle hitter Leeanne Gross, daughter of coach Joan Gross. Leeanne Gross is first on the team in kills (516), solo blocks (58), digs (268) and aces (67). She plans to play volleyball in college but is still debating at what level, Division I or Division II.
"We're not gonna stop her," 14th-year Triton coach Gayle Perry said. "She'll get her kills. But we intend to put a good block against her, and we want to make sure the other five don't beat us. I look at it as we have five hitters. I don't think they can key in on anyone on our team."
Balanced Triton has different leaders in different stat categories. Brandie Ganshorn leads in kills, Betsy Salyer in blocks, Beth Workman in assists and Amber Feldman in digs. In comparison to Gross' 516 kills, Ganshorn has fewer than 200 for Triton.
"I know Triton is a very sound team," Joan Gross said. "Their strength is probably their back court. They have a couple of nice middle hitters. I think their coach does a really nice job of getting her team motivated. I think them playing on their home court is big. It probably will mean 10 points, somewhere in that area."
Like Warsaw coach Tanya Coon, Perry likes her chances with her balanced team.
"It's been my experience that when it comes to teams built around one player, when things start to go bad, the team cracks," Perry said, "because they don't have anyone else who's going to step up that they can turn to."
Perry downplayed Triton's regional win over Adams Central last year as being a major factor this season.
"They're ranked No. 2, it's their ranking to defend," she said. "They're supposed to beat us."
Adams Central has won three straight sectional titles and has five in school history. Triton owns two straight sectional titles and three in school history. Adams Central owns one regional title, while Triton seeks its first.
Adams Central's 28 wins are the most in one season in school history, but Gross stopped short of calling this her best team.
"I think this team has to continue winning to be the best team in school history," she said. "If we would have had class ball then, I would have had some teams in the early 1990s that probably would have gone to state.
"This has been the best comeback team I have ever coached. We were down 14-2 to Blackhawk Christian, who is in this regional, and came back to win 16-14 to win the match during the regular season. Last week we were down to Wes-Del and came back to win."
Adams Central advanced to the regional by beating No. 6 Wes-Del 15-13, 12-15, 17-15 in the Wes-Del Sectional in a match that saw Adams Central tally 110 digs. Triton advanced by smashing 21-11 South Central 15-4, 15-2 in the Argos Sectional.
The winner of Adams Central/Triton will face the winner of No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2)/Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8). Marquette beat Triton in last year's regional championship match.
Both coaches warned against prematurely making Marquette the regional champion.
"I think Marquette is an outstanding team, but they played 15 1A teams while we played three 1A teams," Joan Gross said.
Said Perry: "We had big wins at the season, and we seem to be peaking at the right time. We feel extremely confident. We feel we can take Adams Central.
"We beat them last year. We're not looking past Adams Central, but we expect to be in the championship match. And as the kids put it, we've lost to Marquette long enough."
No. 2 (A) Adams Central
Coach/years: Joan Gross/15th
Record: 28-6
Regional: Triton A
Opening match: vs. No. 5 (A) Triton (27-9) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2) vs. Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Adams Central lost to Triton in Triton A Regional first round
How Adams Central got here: Adams Central def. Marion Lakeview Christian 15-1, 15-2; Adams Central def. No. 6 Wes-Del 15-13, 12-15, 17-15 in Wes-Del Sectional championship
Last regional title: Adams Central has one regional title (year not available)
Leaders: Kills - Leeanne Gross 516 (.383 kill percentage); solo blocks - Gross 58; digs - Gross 268; aces - Gross 67
No. 5 (A) Triton
Coach/years: Gayle Perry/14th
Record: 27-9
Regional: Triton A
Opening match: vs. No. 2 Adams Central (28-6) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 1 Michigan City Marquette (34-2) vs. Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (21-8)
Last year: Triton lost to Michigan City Marquette in regional championship
How Triton got here: Triton def. Culver Community (4-19) 15-2, 15-1; Triton def. Argos (8-24) 15-1, 15-8; Triton def. South Central (21-11) 15-4, 15-2 in Argos Sectional championship
Last regional title: Triton does not have a volleyball regional title
Leaders (*regular season only): Kills - Brandie Ganshorn 177, Amber Feldman 136; *blocks - Betsy Salyer 39; assists - Beth Workman 387, Melissa Claxon 214; *digs - Feldman 210, Janell Salisbury 163, Ganshorn 149, Workman 135, Rachel Speicher 133; *aces - Feldman 20, Salisbury 18, Workman 17
No. 2 (3A) Yorktown
vs. NorthWood
Give Yorktown credit for earning its way into the Peru 3A Regional.
Yorktown beat No. 10 Pendleton Heights 15-5, 15-11 in the first round of the sectional then beat No. 5 Delta, an annual volleyball powerhouse, 15-11, 15-6 on its home floor in the Delta Sectional.
"Anytime you play in a very competitive tournament," first-year Yorktown coach Kenna Jones said, "it helps you get ready for the next level. We probably played in the toughest sectional in the state."
Then again, winning sectional was expected. Last year Yorktown advanced to the class 3A state finals and lost to Indianapolis Chatard.
"And they have the same team as last year that went to the state finals," 10th-year NorthWood coach Peg Bough said of Yorktown.
NorthWood, which advanced to the semistate in 1997 and 1998, has played well in big games this season. The Panthers beat No. 10 Pendleton Heights during the season and won at Mishawaka Marian 6-15, 15-7, 16-14 on Oct. 6. Marian ended the season ranked No. 3, one spot behind Yorktown in the 3A poll.
Pendleton Heights was one of the two teams to beat Yorktown during the regular season. The other was Delta.
The wins over Pendleton Heights and Mishawaka Marian are the wins Bough will remind her team of.
"We're familiar with Muncie teams," she said. "The last two semistates we went to, we were beaten by Delta, so we know that caliber of volleyball. Most Muncie teams serve so well. We serve just to get the ball in. You have to be prepared to receive their serves."
Said Jones: "We have a diverse team with no one go-to person. Every time the ball is set, we have three people on our front line who can score. Our serving and passing are the main things we focus on."
Yorktown's trip to the state finals came in the year the school won its first regional volleyball title.
"We hope we can take away some of their offense away by blocking," Bough said. "If we pass well and hit well, we should be able to take away from their offense."
NorthWood and Yorktown did not play during the regular season, nor did the teams compete at the same tournament.
No. 2 (3A) Yorktown
Coach/years: Kenna Jones/first
Record: 32-2
Regional: Peru 3A
Opening match: vs. NorthWood (28-7) at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 4 Fort Wayne Concordia (32-2) vs. Bellmont (21-15); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: Yorktown won Peru 3A Regional, the first regional title in school history; advanced to the state finals and lost to Indianapolis Cathedral
How Yorktown got here: Yorktown def. No. 10 Pendleton Heights 15-5, 15-11; Yorktown def. No. 5 Delta 15-11, 15-6 in Delta Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1999
Leaders: N/A
NorthWood
Coach/years: Peg Bough/10th
Record: 28-7
Regional: Peru 3A
Opening match: vs. No. 2 (3A) Yorktown at 11 a.m. Saturday; followed by No. 4 Fort Wayne Concordia (32-2) vs. Bellmont (21-15); championship at 7 p.m.
Last year: NorthWood lost in Northridge Sectional
How NorthWood got here: NorthWood def. Wawasee (22-11) 15-12, 15-4; NorthWood def. Lakeland (19-13) 15-9, 15-9; NorthWood def. Northridge (13-18) 15-7, 15-2 in Northridge Sectional championship
Last regional title: 1998
Leaders (sectional stats not included): Kills -ÊCarol Duncan 272, Kasey Chamberlin 192, Katie Chamberlin 189; assists - Allison Taylor 318, Kasey
Chamberlin 259; digs - Jessica Yoder 232, Duncan 215, Kasey Chamberlin 200, Katie Chamberlin 188; solo blocks - Duncan 57 [[In-content Ad]]