Blackhawk Silences Triton Again
BOURBON – Triton volleyball head coach Samantha Willsey noted after her team’s sectional championship that momentum was vitally important. Momentum was important Tuesday in the Triton Volleyball Regional, but Willsey’s team wasn’t the side with the juice.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk stole the momentum from Triton and it’s rowdy crowd early and never gave it back in a 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 win. A win that gave the Braves its second regional win over Triton in as many years and its fourth regional championship in the past five seasons.
“It’s so exciting sometimes you just have to step back and realize a regional championship is such an honor,” said Fort Wayne Blackhawk head coach Lindsay Roth. “To come in against Triton, who is a great team, and to watch a team play with so much passion and heart. This is exactly the environment we want to be playing in.
“It was just fun to play in this type of environment.”
Triton, which had scored points in bundles in the sectional tournament, never stretched together anything close to a long rally against Blackhawk. The Trojans didn’t score more than four points in a row all night. And for good reason, as Blackhawk’s defense was stout and it’s return offense even better.
Blackhawk built sizable leads in all three games, using key runs to make mountains out of molehills. A 15-9 lead in game one quickly escalated into an 18-9 lead after Triton could not serve receive three straight points. Attacking the back corners, the Braves kept chipping at game two, jumping up 17-12 and then scoring six of the next eight points. Buoyed by Olivia Martin, a kill and an ace by the junior hitter ended Triton’s hopes in game two. An 8-1 blitz by Blackhawk turned a 9-8 lead in game three into an 17-9 cushion.
Martin led the night with 18 kills to go with 13 digs and three aces, which became Blackhawk’s first option as the night went on, despite Triton’s efforts to cover the known commodity Madison Byrd and big hitter Casey Bunner.
“Olivia is one of those players, it could be a regular season game or a summer league game, she is going to play as if it’s the national championship game. That’s just her mentality,” Roth said. “There is never a question on whether she is going to bring it. We expect her to bring that every game. To know we can go to her whenever, we know she will provide for us.”
Byrd had 12 kills and Brittan Greubel picked up 39 assists for the Braves.
As Blackhawk continued to pick apart Triton’s defense in game three, its defense also did a job on Triton’s two big hitters in Jaela Meister and Nicole Sechrist. As both were almost 80 percent of the team’s offense during the season, neither got going Tuesday night.
“There was some frustration going on on the floor. Mentally we were in and out of runs,” Willsey said, who then added about Blackhawk picking out Emma Ross on the backline the entire evening, “It frustrates the whole team when they go after one girl. I have confidence in her. That’s the best I’ve got. I put the best on the floor tonight.”
Triton finishes its season 19-14 overall. Meister and classmate Brooklyn Bitting played their final games, but Willsey is hopeful her team’s run to a regional the past two seasons can only encourage continued work for a roster that returns five starters and has a lot of talent on the horizon.
“I feel really good going into the offseason,” Willsey said. “I have some girls on the reserve team that once they get their coordination down, they are going to be pretty solid players as well.”
Pioneer (27-10) won the regional title 25-16, 25-21, 26-24 against Morgan Township (30-6) in the other feeding regional, which will set up a third matchup this season between Blackhawk and Pioneer at the Caston Semi-state. The two teams split the previous two matchups this season. Class 1-A No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic (37-0) and Seton Catholic (29-8) play in the other Caston semi-final.