By
Mike McGraw
Executive Director
MUNCIE
– It was the usual suspects committing the usual crimes Nov. 8, namely dashing
the hopes of Class A and 2A volleyball state title contenders.
Top-ranked
perennial powerhouses Marquette Catholic and Muncie Burris rolled to their
respective championships in three-game matches, and they did so by doing what
they always do – putting on clinics in fundamental volleyball.
1A championship: #1 Marquette Catholic 25-29-27, #4 Barr-Reeve 19-27-16
Marquette
faced a No. 4 Barr-Reeve team that was, simply stated, more athletic and far
more powerful. So the Blazers responded with a tried-and-true baseball
response: They used pitching and defense, only in this instance it was serving
and defense.
The
Blazers logged 16 aces in just three games. That included six from junior Amber
Cerrillos, whose wicked jump serve is a thing of wonder. On the other side of
the ledger, Marquette failed to effectively receive serve only three times in
the match.
The
result was a hard-fought 25-19, 29-27, 25-16 victory.
As
the scores suggest, the second game was the real turning point in the match. Trailing
24-22, Barr-Reeve staged a furious rally to take the lead at 25-24. Marquette
fought off that game point, though, and the contest then turned into a personal
war between 5’11” Marquette junior outside hitter Ashley Edmond and her outstanding
Barr-Reeve counterpart, 6’1” junior Hillary Fox.
The
two traded bombs until the score reached 27-all. On the next point, the Vikings
seemingly made a spectacular dig in the far-left rear of the court. But an
official’s whistle blew the play dead, awarding the point to Marquette.
Nobody
on press row was entirely sure of the violation that had been called, but it
appeared the lead referee had signaled a net boo-boo on Barr-Reeve. That was,
at the least, an unusual call with the ball over 20 feet away from the net.
Timing,
as they say, is everything. The call was followed with another of the Blazers’
many aces to close out the game, and Barr-Reeve never recovered.
The
1A title is the fifth in a row for Marquette Catholic, formerly known as
Michigan City Marquette.
2A championship: #1 Muncie Burris 25-25-25, #2 Brownstown 16-11-20
Muncie
Burris used the same fundamental approach as Marquette in winning yet another
2A title. Coach Steve Shondell’s Owls were impeccable from the service line,
exceptional on defense, and simply overwhelming in their variety of attacks at
the net.
Try
this stat on for size. Until midway through the third game with the match well
in hand, Burris was guilty of exactly ONE service error. The Owls simply do not
make mistakes, and that put too much pressure on a game second-ranked
Brownstown squad as Burris triumphed 25-16, 25-15, 25-20.
Brownstown,
it should be noted, refused to go quietly. Despite losing both of the first two
games convincingly, the Braves started the third contest with a vengeance by
sprinting to a 12-9 lead. Eventually, though, the steady play of Burris wore
them down.
For
Burris, this marks more consecutive titles than one cares to count. (OK, it’s
12 … with 20 overall.) The Owls have never failed to win the 2A championship
since the IHSAA instituted the class system.
So what
do you think? Share your thoughts on our Volleyball message board.