Gabby Dean
The Columbus East volleyball team came into Tuesday night with a ton of energy and emotion that visiting Bloomington South could never match.
That was because it was the Olympians’ senior night for Maddie Cline, Gabby Dean, Kenzie Foster and Erin Williams.
The emotions of senior night helped East rout the Panthers 25-14, 25-14, 25-12.
As emotional as the Olympians were for senior night, they also had a lot of momentum from Saturday’s Cathedral Invitational, where they avenged an earlier season loss to Hoosier Hills Conference foe New Albany and picked up three-set wins over Silver Creek and Penn.
“They were amped up for senior night, and I think it carried through tonight,” East coach Ellyn McIntosh said. “I don’t want to say we turned the corner, yet, but it is much different than our play last week.”
The only time East (12-10) trailed in the match was early on in the first set when the Panthers led 5-1. East responded with eight straight points to lead 9-5 and didn’t look back. The Olympians built 11-4 leads in the second and third sets before they eventually closed out each set and the match.
“It was definitely special since it was one of the last times playing in here,” Dean said. “We had all of our fans, so that gave us a lot of energy. We played well this (past) weekend, so we used that momentum to help carry in, and that helped with the energy a lot.”
Maddie Cline
Erin Williams
Kenzie Foster
For the game, Cline had 15 kills, nine digs and a block. Dean finished with 11 kills and four blocks, Williams tallied 31 assists and five digs, Foster added eight digs, Jenna Guse finished with six kills and a block, Caroline Frost had three kills and a block, Chloe Gilley added eight digs, Addison Emery served four aces and Kimberly Carothers had one block.
McIntosh appreciated how much the seniors meant to the team this year.
“Having four starters every single game, I think we missed a couple of them through injury throughout the season every now and again,” McIntosh said. “I’m super happy with all these girls. They’re great kids on and off the court.”
