Columbus North’s Ramu Alagappan (16) and Sawyer Patterson (28) try to block the spike of Franklin’s Jacob Miller during Saturday’s Franklin Championship game.
Rob Baker | For The Republic
FRANKLIN — Columbus North had a tough task Saturday night without three of its regular starters and going up against a state-ranked and host Franklin team in the boys volleyball sectional final.
The Grizzly Cubs took advantage of the Bull Dogs’ sudden lack of depth and height and posted a 25-12, 25-14, 25-13 victory.
“We didn’t have everybody, but it’s just next-man-up,” North coach Jeff Case said. “We knew going in, we had a tall order. We just wanted to make sure that we were ready to play and compete, and we knew to have a chance to win, we’ve have to do our very best, and (Franklin would) have to help us out some, and they didn’t. They played well.”
After the Grizzly Cubs (21-11) led from start to finish in the first set, the Bull Dogs (11-19) led 4-3 in the second set before the Franklin took control. The third set was tied 3-3 before the Grizzly Cubs pulled away.
“We stayed positive,” Case said. “We worked on it all week, and that’s what I wanted all week and they did it, so I’m just super proud of their effort.”
Leo Iorio pounded seven kills, Ramu Alagappin recorded 16 assists, Yoki Murabayashi notched eight digs and Aniket Ghatge served one ace to lead North. Noah Dornfeld tallied six kills, Anyu Gong added four kills, Iorio posted seven digs, Hank Lin had one assist and five digs and Vitor Doi contributed one assist.
The Bull Dogs were missing senior setter Kota Kondo and sophomore outside hitter Yuta Kondo, who were on a family trip to New York, for both of their matches Saturday; and senior middle hitter Juan Jose Salcedo Calderon, who had a family obligation, for the evening final.
North, which had beaten Greenwood Christian Academy in four sets in Wednesday’s first round, advanced to the title match with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-12 win against Shelbyville Saturday morning.
“On Wednesday, our first match, I feel like we were a little unfocused, a little bit overexcited for the moment maybe,” Iorio said. “So I think we really played well. We battled and played how we’ve all season and we did what we’ve been doing in practice.”
Iorio, who had long serving runs in the second and third sets, led North with eight kills and eight aces. Alagappin recorded 24 assists, Dornfeld had two blocks and Murabayashi notched seven digs.
Also for the Bull Dogs, Salcedo Calderon and Lin each pounded six kills, Parth Shah tallied six digs and three aces, Iorio and Ghatge each had four digs and Murabayashi served three aces.
“I’m pretty happy with how we played,” Case said. “We’re missing some players, so some guys stepped up and filled their roles. That’s what we’ve worked for all year, is to get people that can do that. So we were pretty happy with that. It’s a learning process. We improved a lot, so I’m really happy about that.”
Meanwhile, Franklin advanced with a 25-13, 25-15, 25-11 win against Columbus East (16-17) in the second semifinal. The Grizzly Cubs never trailed in any of the three sets.
“When when we’ve played well, I’m super happy with how we’ve played,” East coach Kailey Smith said. “We’ve struggled all year, and this was a perfect example of us allowing a team to kind of dig us into that hole, and we just struggled to get out of it.”
Franklin featured a 6-foot-7 senior and two 6-6 seniors in its front row.
“We knew coming in Franklin was going to be hard to beat, and I think we did the best that we could with who we were playing,” Smith said. “They are probably the biggest team we played all year, and I think it hurt us not being able to prepare for that. But we swung when we could, and we tried to get our blocks there. It’s hard to compete when you have a physical difference like that.”
The Olympians had beaten Whiteland in straight sets Thursday in their first round match. East will lose 11 seniors to graduation.
“All in all, I’m super proud of this team,” Smith said. “The boys were great. I couldn’t have had a better team my first season. We played some really good teams, and we competed with a lot of really good teams. Just the relationship that I had with these boys and how awesome they are, it’s a great feeling as a coach knowing that this group is so special.”
