DOVER — If you’re a fan of volleyball, Western Boone was the place to be on Thursday as Crawfordsville and Danville competed in the Class 3A Sectional 25 opener in match that will be talked about on both sides for quite sometime. Trailing 2-1 and with their season on the line, the Athenians stormed back to defeat the Warriors in a five set sectional thriller (16-25, 27-25, 13-25, 25-16, 15-13).
Back on Sep. 29 Crawfordsville and these same Warriors went the same five sets, but with the Warriors coming out on top. This time the result was flipped and the Athenians stepped up their play when it mattered the most. The fifth set was deadlocked at 12-12 as no one team was gaining the edge. Up 14-13 and needing just a single point to clinch the sectional win, the Athenians got the ultimate gift from the Warriors... a hit into the net and that’s how the fantastic game ended between the two SAC rivals.
“We showed the ultimate fight and will to win tonight, and I couldn’t be more proud of these young ladies,” Crawfordsville coach Kelly Johnson with barely a voice left. “I felt pretty good about half way through the fourth set and then it just was back and forth in the fifth. It came down to where we were at in our rotation and who was going to be more mentally tough and I felt like that was us.”
There were plenty of stats to go around in the five set thriller. Macy Bruton led the way with 31 kills 16 digs, and five aces. Hallie Gayler 14 kills, Jessica Tribble notched 52 assists, Elyse Widmer two aces eight digs, Halle Elliot 11 digs and one ace and also ‘a ton of incredible passes’ according to Johnson. Devan Johnson tallied six kills, Kaydence Brost two kills, and Brooklyn Mills had two blocks.
The message that Johnson sent after being down 2-1 was simple. It was win or your season is over.
“I told them this was it and just to want it more,” she said. “We had to be the ones to be the aggressors. We couldn’t play on the defensive and expect to win, we had to be the attackers and protect the entire court.”
Speaking of protecting the entire court, the entire night the Athenians were chasing balls left and right and fighting for every hit. They didn’t allow the Warriors to earn easy points.
“It was just a full team effort tonight and we showed a ton of grit. We didn’t get down on ourselves and continued to have positive attitudes about ourselves. We played to win and played as a compete team.”
In the end the benefit of having a senior led group paid off for Crawfordsville. Those six seniors didn’t want Thursday to be the last time they stepped on a volleyball court. Johnson credited each and everyone of them for their leadership and effort in the come from behind win.
“They all lead by example and effort,” Johnson said of her six seniors. “Halle Elliot was everywhere in the back row diving after every ball she could, Macy was everywhere in the front and back when she had to be, Hallie Gayler did a fantastic job at the net tonight coming through with those 14 big kills. Jessica worked her tail off getting the ball where we needed to tonight. Brooklyn had two huge blocks for us and I can’t say enough about Elyse’s effort tonight either. All six of them did an outstanding job and they obviously didn’t want to go home yet.”
Crawfordsville with the win improves to 23-8 on the season while the Warriors see their season come to an end with a record of 19-10. The Warriors are expected to be back next season with graduating just a single senior in Jocelyn Perry.
CHS moves on to the sectional semi-finals on Saturday morning where they’ll see another familiar foe in SAC rival Western Boone. The Stars back on Sep. 27 came away with a sweep of the Athenians on their home court. Just like they did against the Warriors, the Athenians will look to try and flip the result when it matters most on Saturday.
“We know their a very good team,” Johnson said of the Stars. “We know we’re going to have to better than we were the last time we played them. Time will tell if that’s the case.”
Crawfordsville and Western Boone will get things going at 10 am Saturday morning with the winner playing for a sectional title later that night at 6 pm.
