By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Center Grove meets Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference rival Carmel in a girls soccer semistate match at Seymour at 3 p.m. Saturday. The No. 8 Trojans will be out to avenge a 1-0 loss to the No. 4 Greyhounds last month. Center Grove claimed the Bloomington South regional by dominating Floyd Central 7-0 Saturday night after edging the host and No. 20 Panthers 3-1 in overtime.

Four Trojans scored in the nightcap with Megan Perry kicking three goals and Jostin Reeves, Piper Belden and Paige Waskom each scoring once. The CG/Carmel (19-3) winner advances to the state finals Oct. 26 or Oct. 27 at the IUPUI Soccer Stadium against No. 7 Fort Wayne Homestead (17-3) or No. 12 Valparaiso (20-2).

No. 7 Greenwood Christian Academy (14-5-1) bowed from the 1A Knightstown regional at the hands of No. 1 Seton Catholic in the afternoon match. Seton scored the match’s lone goal with one minute left in the first period. George Apgar and Josue Mier led GCA’s charge in the second period. GCA has reached the regionals three times in the past four years.
Cross country Center Grove’s girls team dominated the Shelbyville regional with five runners finishing sixth through 12th on the Blue River course. Sophomore Sadie Schemmel, sixth, 19 minutes, 39.9, seconds led the Trojans with Gabrielle Harrell, seventh, and Hudson Gilstorf, Nina Fujii and Rebecca Stockman, 10th through 12th.

Greenwood junior Julia Arruda, 16th, also qualified for semistate. The Trojans’ boys team finished second at Shelbyville. CG lost to Franklin 39-57. The Trojans were led by junior Nick Wilson, third, 16:11.1 seconds. Five CG runners were among the top 24.

Greenwood’s Keith Alford, 25th, also qualified for semistate. They advance to the Shelbyville semistate at 10 a.m. Saturday. The top six teams and top 10 runners from non-advancing teams qualify for the state finals Oct. 27 in Terre Haute.

Roncalli’s Nick Perkins picked up his second consecutive champions medal by capturing the Rushville Regional in 15:53.4, winning by 34 seconds. Franklin Central’s boys team finished a close second to champion New Palestine, 58-61. Jackson Andry, third, led the Flashes. FC had five runners among the top 29. Roncalli was third with 95 points.

In the girls race at Rushville, regional champion New Palestine and Franklin Central runners were among the top 12. Led by runnerup Brianna Lawson, 18:57.2, the Flashes lost to New Palestine 31-34. The runners advance to Saturday’s semistate at Shelbyville: girls at 10 a.m., boys at 10:30 a.m. The top six teams and top 10 runners from non-advancing teams qualify for the state finals Oct. 27 in Terre Haute.

By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Center Grove and Roncalli earned volleyball sectional championships Saturday in rematches against rivals, while Lutheran won the Morristown sectional against Greenwood Christian Academy. After 3-2 and 3-0 regular-season wins against Franklin, No. 5 Center Grove won the Greenwood sectional by sweeping the Grizzly Cubs 25-16, 25-13, 25-22.

No. 9 Roncalli continued its mastery for the third time against Perry Meridian, 25-18, 25-22, 25-17, at Ben Davis. At Morristown, Lutheran handled GCA 25-14, 26-24, 25-12. At Greenwood, Center Grove showed its quality depth against No. 15 Franklin. Junior middle hitter Jamie Brown led with 14 kills and three blocks, and Anna Line added nine kills and four blocks.

Junior MJ Hammill enjoyed 37 assists and 10 digs. Ashley Eck had 23 digs. The Grizzly Cubs led 21-19 in the third set, but CG’s power prevailed with a 6-1 run for the trophy.

“We played really good volleyball in the first two sets,” first-year CG coach Chris Due said. “We minimized our errors, made defensive plays and our back row stepped up. We got our middle hitters involved and they did a good job of eatin’ them up.”

The Trojans (28-6) face No. 2 Providence at the 4A Bloomington North regional at a.m. Saturday with the winner facing Castle or Bloomington South in the championship at 7:30 p.m. At Ben Davis, Perry Meridian jumped to a 4-0 lead and then Roncalli senior Grace Hegwood took over by scoring six of the next eight points. The Falcons rallied with six straight points late in the second set before falling 25-22.

The Rebels sealed the match with a 7-0 run for a 23-14 lead in the third set. Hegwood had 17 kills, and sophomore Miranda Wilson had nine. PM’s Caitie Baird, a U18 USA gold medal team member, had 14 kills with GraceAnn Hartman adding five kills and four blocks.

“This one turned out the way we expected,” Hegwood said. “We wanted to focus on our side of play, limit our errors and put the ball where they weren’t. We had to relax and play our game.”

The Rebels (28-6) reached the final match by defeating Pike in the opener and Southport earlier Saturday.

“Give them (Perry Meridian) credit because they put in a lot of effort to keep us from our normal game,” Roncalli coach Missy Marsh said. “We had to change our game plan and attack them in a different way.
Our seniors stepped up; we needed them to swing and score when we needed.”

The Rebels meet rival Cathedral at 10 a.m. Saturday at Greenfield with the title match at 7:20 p.m. against the No. 3 Avon/Greenfield winner. At Morristown, Lutheran swept Providence Cristo Rey in the regional opener and then subdued GCA.

“Each player in there came up with whatever we needed – an outside hit, a great dig, a great block or a run of serves,” Saints coach Kathy Anderson said.

“Different players stepped up at different times and that made it hard for GCA to come back. It (championship) was a real team victory.”

The Saints meet University at noon Saturday after the opener between Bloomfield and Hauser with the winners meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Morristown regional. Senior outside hitter Rylee Morris (232 kills, 215 digs, 30 blocks) and sophomore Dara Milivojak (341 kills, 328 digs, 48 aces) led the Saints. Up front they are set up by junior Chloe Andre, 714 assists. Senior Hannah Mielke has added 200 digs from the back row. Freshman Jaelah Chenalt is a young threat too.

“We’re peaking at the right time,” Anderson said. “These girls are closer and tighter than they were two weeks ago. They are playing for each other and that increases their chance for success.”

Southport, Greenwood, Manual, Beech Grove and Franklin Central were defeated in their opening sectional matches.