HOPE — After cruising through the first set, it looked like the Hauser volleyball team would roll easily past Rising Sun on Saturday night.
The Shiners, though, came roaring back by picking up their offensive intensity, and it left the Jets off balance as they stole the second set.
But Hauser made sure an upset was never in question as it controlled the third and fourth sets in dominating fashion to capture its sixth straight sectional championship with a 25-9, 23-25, 25-12, 25-19 win.
The Class A No. 9 Jets will play in the regional Tuesday at Greenwood Christian Academy, which upset No. 3 Indianapolis Lutheran 25-10, 25-6, 25-17.
“It’s an amazing feeling to know we won (sectional) again,” said junior Brea Metz, who led the Jets with 18 kills and added two assists and two aces. “The atmosphere was so amazing.”
Metz said Hauser (34-1) had to work hard for every point.
“We came into the game not looking ahead but at times early on, we expected the point was going to be ours, but then it backfires on us, and they somehow find a way to send the ball back over to us,” Metz said. “We just had to recuperate and get ourselves back in the game and just get the ball back over.”
Hauser coach Jeff Case credited Rising Sun for fighting back.
“They are a well-coached team and they are pretty scrappy,” Case said. “If you are not playing up to your potential or pushing them real hard, then they are going to get you like they did to us in the second set. They took advantage of our unforced errors, but once we put an end to our errors, we made them work for every point instead of just giving points to them.”
Sydney Schoen finished with 10 kills, 14 assists, five digs and four aces for the Jets. Maranda Knight added six kills, a block and three aces. Tannyr Davis pounded 12 kills and four blocks. Alana Owen recorded 29 assists, Lucie Lortz added two blocks and Danielle Giles had 10 digs.
Both teams could not make a serious scoring run early in the third set. With the Hauser leading 10-9, the serving of Schoen and Owen help close out the set with a 15-3 run.
Knight helped serve the Jets to an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set. With the Jets leading 24-14, Rising Sun’s final gasp came when it scored five straight points. But the deficit was too big to overcome.
In Saturday morning’s semifinals, Hauser rolled past Jac-Cen-Del 25-6, 25-11, 25-19. Schoen had eight kills, seven assists, 10 digs and seven aces. Metz had 10 kills and two aces, Owen notched 20 assists and two digs, Knight pounded four kills and two blocks and Giles added three assists and 11 digs.
