BENTON – Momentum is always a factor in the postseason. The Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings couldn’t generate much of it for themselves, or slow down West Noble, in the 3A Fairfield volleyball sectional Thursday night. The result was a Lady Chargers 25-10, 25-7, 25-15 sweep of Valley. In all three sets, West Noble had long stretches where it found holes in the Valley defense. In the first set, the Lady Chargers scored 18 of the last 21 points; the second set it was 23 of 28. The third set was tied at 14 before West Noble scored 11 of the last 12 points to end Valley’s season. The biggest difference in the match was West Noble consistently found its setters and had a decided height advantage on the front line. Maddie Schermerhorn and Kenzie Teel kept the Lady Vikings on their heels. Meanwhile Valley struggled to keep the ball in play, making it hard to pass well enough to set up its offense. Head coach Mallory Eaton was surprised her squad played the way it did. “Passing, in my opinion, is 99 percent mental and we couldn’t generate any offense because we couldn’t get the ball to our setter,” she said. “It wasn’t just one particular player; we just couldn’t pass across the board. I don’t feel that we ever gave up or that we couldn’t do it. We just couldn’t get the momentum built. We couldn’t get clicking and we couldn’t get into a rhythm. When you can’t get into a rhythm, it’s really hard to score runs of points.” Eaton noted the difference West Noble’s experience played against her relatively young team. “Both (Schermerhorn and Teel) are phenomenal hitters and we don’t have that,” Eaton said. “My biggest kid (Makenzie Woodcox) is a freshman and she is still trying to figure out the blocking game.” While the 2016 season has come to an end, Eaton noted the strides gained in the program in this year’s 20-13 season. “In years past, we didn’t have people even touching the ball. I look at it as growth. We are making more touches in the front row, but we’re just undersized,” she said. “But we had our first 20-win season in about 10 years. There’s nothing to hang our heads about. Is it disappointing? Yeah. But when you look at the season as a whole, they want banners in the gym. But are we better than we were in August, and every kid (nodded) their head yes.” West Noble (29-5) advanced to take on host Fairfield in the first semifinal Saturday. The Lady Falcons disposed of Lakeland 25-7, 25-7, 25-16 in the first quarterfinal. The winner of that match takes on the Wawasee/NorthWood winner for the sectional title Saturday night.
WEST NOBLE 3 TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0 TV 10 7 15 WN 25 25 25 Valley: no stats available as of press time. West Noble: Aces – Erin Mawhorter 4, Kenzie Teel 4, Kaylie Warble 3; Kills – Maddie Schermerhorn 10, Teel 9; Digs – Teel 9, Mawhorter 6, Tara Miller 6; Blocks – Schermerhorn 2, Kaylie Warble 1, Kristina Teel 1. Records – Valley 20-13, West Noble 29-5
