NOBLESVILLE — Columbus Christian came agonizingly close to winning its first Indiana Christian Schools Athletic Association state volleyball title on Saturday.
After beating Clinton Christian in three sets in the morning semifinal, the Crusaders went the distance in the final against Heritage Christian (Dyer) before falling 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 13-25, 15-10 to finish runner-up for the third consecutive year.
“This is the closest that we’ve ever come to a state title,” Columbus Christian coach Sarah Stair said. “I was super proud of the girls. They really worked hard to try to pull off that win.”
In the title game, Hannah Stair recorded 22 kills, one assist, 23 digs and two aces; Madison Henderson notched 20 kills, one solo and one assist block, 29 digs and two aces; Emily Stair had four kills, 36 assists, 26 digs and four aces and Kayla Jones added two assists, two aces and 55 digs.
Also for the Crusaders (19-4-1), Lila Hudson tallied five kills, one solo and one assist block and two digs; Kinidy Morgan posted one assist, 21 digs and one ace, Isabella VanCuren had three solo and one assist block and Kenna Conrad added one solo and one assist block and two digs.
As a team, Columbus Christian had 158 digs.
“That was really incredible,” Sarah Stair said. “There were very few serving errors. That was one of our best serving matches. Just the fight that they had, they had two outside hitters who were very good, and we did a good job with them, especially that fourth set.”
The Crusaders advanced to the final with a 25-10, 25-16, 25-16 win against Clinton Christian. Hannah Stair recorded eight kills, 12 digs and seven aces; Henderson notched seven kills, one assist block, 16 digs and four aces; Emily Stair had four kills, 12 assists, 15 digs and four aces and Jones added three assists, 19 digs and one ace.
Also for Columbus Christian, Hudson tallied three kills, three solo and two assist blocks and one dig; Morgan posted six digs, Conrad had one solo and one assist block and one dig and VanCuren added one solo block and one dig.
