Gabby Dean
The Columbus East volleyball team came in third place at its own invitational on Saturday.
The Olympians went 3-1 after losing the initial match and then winning three straight to close it out.
“We bounced back after the first loss (to Avon),” East coach Ellyn McIntosh said. “I’m proud of their fight.”
Silver Creek won the invitational in three sets over Avon in the final.
In the opening match for the Olympians (17-12) in pool play, they fell to Avon 25-22, 26-24. East won the next two matches against Evansville North 25-15, 25-18 and Trinity Lutheran 25-16, 25-19. In the third place match, the Olympians easily defeated Jasper 25-18, 25-7.
Maddie Cline finished with 30 kills and 27 digs. Gabby Dean had 39 kills, three aces and 12 blocks; Erin Williams tallied 89 assists, 22 digs, three aces and three blocks, Chloe Gilley finished with 32 digs and four aces and Kenzie Foster had 33 digs and three aces.
Also for East, Caroline Frost finished with 21 kills and three blocks, Addison Emery had 16 digs and two aces, Jenna Guse added 13 kills and two blocks and Kimberly Carothers had four blocks.
Saturday’s invitational marked the end of the regular season for the Olympians. They will begin sectional play on Thursday when they take on Whiteland in the opening round.
McIntosh hopes facing this competition will help them get ready for sectional, which will be hosted this year by East.
“That’s why we have this tournament this weekend,” McIntosh said. “It always helps lead us into sectional week and see some good competition leading into that week, so hopefully the momentum carries through, and we can get a win on Thursday.”
Trinity Lutheran placed sixth in the invitational. The Cougars defeated Evansville North 28-26, 25-20 and Avon 22-25, 26-24, 15-10 until they fell to the Olympians 25-16, 25-19 in their final pool play game. Due to tiebreakers, the Cougars finished third in the pool and played Bloomington North in the fifth-place match, where they fell 25-14, 25-19.
For Trinity (20-10), Bailey Tabeling finished with 51 kills, 18 digs and two aces. Carson Bowling had 33 kills and seven blocks, Addison Darlage tallied 90 assists, 23 digs and five aces and Laura Roeder added 27 digs.
“The last two matches, we just missed way too many serves,” Trinity coach Faith Wilder-Newland said. “East had a really good match. They controlled the ball much better than what I’d seen them. When they give the ball to the middles, they hit well, and plus their outside hitters. That, I can take in stride.
“The last match, we missed a lot of serves. We didn’t hit that well or handle the ball well, so that’s not really like us. We usually are good at that, but we did not perform well today,” she added. “We have to go back to the drawing board and see if we can get better before sectional.”
The Cougars open sectional play against New Washington on Thursday.
