MONROVIA – Crawfordsville’s volleyball season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Western Boone in the first round of the 3A Sectional 25 tournament at Branch McCracken Gym.
The Athenians season comes to an end with a 10-21 record, as they lose to the Stars, who won the Sagamore Conference title with a 7-0 record, for the second time this season.
WeBo, who went to the 2A state finals two years ago and to the 2A semistate finals last season, move on to the 3A sectional semifinals on Saturday, joining Sagamore foes Danville, Lebanon and Tri-West. The Stars move to 19-8 with the win.
“There are no moral victories at this point of the season,” first-year Crawfordsville coach Allison Manwell said, “but after losing to WeBo just last week, we practiced really hard, and we brought a real team effort tonight. We executed well in many places and left it all on the floor.”
The 12-25, 19-25, 9-25 loss ended the Athenians season, and five seniors saw their last night in a C’ville uniform, as Emily Powell, Addison Hodges, Samantha Rohr, Devan Johnson and Kaydence Brost will graduate.
“We are so grateful for all five of our seniors,” Manwell continued. “They were there day in and out, and while some of them didn’t get a lot of court time, they did anything that was asked of them. They helped pick up our underclassmen, and we will miss them, especially in the locker room. We wish them lots of success in their futures.”
Johson led the way with a team-best five kills, and finishes first on the team for the season with 170.
The second set was the highlight for the Athenians, as they stretched WeBo from start to finish. They were leading 15-14 before a Stars scoring streak put them in the lead that they carried to the set win.
Katy Grace Whitecotton had one of her four kills, a highlight block and scored two more points in that second set. The junior finished the season with 94 kills. Reece Price had three of her four kills in the final set, as the freshman ends the season with 140 kills.
Claire Peacock had seven assists and finishes with a team-best 319. The freshman was joined by sophomore Ally Strickland with seven assists, and a season total of224. Stickland also had a pair of service aces. Alayna Hall led C’ville with eight digs.
“Crawfordsville tested us tonight,” WeBo coach Laura Bragg said. “They did a good job tonight, and were really improved from last week. That second set they got us out of our system a bit, and that was a good test for us as we get ready for Saturday. It was a good pressure situation for us, and I’m really glad we played tonight instead of waiting all week for Saturday.”
The Stars were led by Raegen Durbin, as the all-conference hitter added 20 kills to her already single-season school record. The junior now has 567 kills this season, as the Stars went over 1,000 kills for the season. She also had three of the 14 aces that were dished out, giving her 51 for the season.
Janie Ransom had 36 assists, taking the junior over 900 for the season.
“We have a freshman, sophomore and junior hitter returning,” Manwell said, looking down the Crawfordsville road a little, “and we have a freshman and sophomore setter. A year of varsity experience bodes well for the future. I’m super-excited about that future.”
The Stars and Danville play in the second semifinal match Saturday, following Lebanon and Tri-West. The championship will be played Saturday night.
