FRANKFORT — North Montgomery volleyball saw a familiar opponent as they opened up the Class 3A Sectional 20 at Frankfort. The Chargers took on the host Hot dogs in a Sagamore Conference rematch.
Earlier this season, the Chargers fell to the Hot dogs 3-0. This time around the Chargers were determined to make Frankfort earn every single point and that’s what they did. The scoreboard read in favor of the Hot dogs, but the Chargers fought till the end in what was a three set defeat (27-25, 27-25, 25-17).
In both sets one and two North Montgomery was just a single point away from clinching the set, being up 25-24. However both times, Frankfort was able to rally off three straight points in order to take both sets.
“They (Frankfort) had all of the momentum on us tonight,” second-year Charger coach Whitney Hutson said. “We just couldn’t pick it up and get the momentum in our favor.”
In the first set the Chargers found themselves down 24-18 before rattling off seven straight. In the second they were down 18-10 before six straight points went in their favor. Despite their season coming to an end, Hutson walked away feeling pretty good about the way her team continued to fight for every point.
“I’m really proud of them,” she said. “We were down two key players tonight and had to go with a new lineup and they came in with a great attitude and I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that.” Ashlynn Anderson finished the game with nine kills to lead the way offensively while Madi Welch added in 15 assists. Defensively Mackenzie Shepherd recorded nine digs while Carlie Desmet recorded seven of her own. Rylie Gayler also added in five digs.
For Frankfort, they now move on to face Crawfordsville in the sectional semi-final at
11 a.m. Saturday. Hot dog coach Kia Rushton knows her team will be in for a fight against a tough Athenian squad.
The Chargers will graduate six seniors in Welch, Anderson, Shepherd, Desmet, Mallory Morehouse and Trinity Schroeder. Hutson talked about what those girls have meant to the program and to her in her first two seasons at the helm.
“Those girls have a ton of talent amongst them,” she said. “It’s going to be hard to replace them, but they are great group of girls and it was a pleasure to coach them these last two seasons.”
The Chargers will end their season with a record of 7-15, but it won’t be the record that Hutson and her team focuses on. All coaches want their teams playing their best at the end of the season, and the Chargers can say they’ve done just that.
“I feel like we played really well and played as a team,” Hutson said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t finish those two sets.”
