By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
INDIANAPOLIS – We Americans love power – we may write songs about flowers and blue skies, but we drive SUVs. To that end, the Brebeuf volleyball team is just a bunch of true-blue American girls.
The Class 3A sixth-ranked Braves unleashed a power display Oct. 25 that simply overwhelmed No. 5 Indianapolis Chatard in the Sectional 26 final at Roncalli. The result was a championship earned in four games (17-25, 25-19, 25-19, and 25-11) in perhaps the state’s toughest sectional.
Brebeuf, which dropped its first two games before coming back to defeat No. 9 host Roncalli in five games (15-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-18, 17-15) earlier Saturday to reach the final, will face Hamilton Heights in one semifinal of the Mt. Vernon (Fortville) Regional. The winner of that Nov. 1 match will challenge either Batesville or North Montgomery for a trip to the state finals.
It didn’t look early in its battle with Chatard match as if Brebeuf would get an opportunity to unleash that power. The Trojans kept the Braves off-balance with short serves and dinks at the net through most of the first game.
That, coupled with some outstanding defense from the Trojans’ back line, propelled Chatard to an eight-point win that might actually have been a little easier than the score indicates.
The match, though, began a slow transition in the early stages of Game 2. Brebeuf began to show signs of gaining a rhythm, and you can credit a great deal of that to the Braves’ only senior, Kelly Kristoff.
She put on a one-man defensive show that not only blunted the Chatard attack but also ignited the Braves’ passing game. Chatard did not help its case by committing several unforced errors during the game, and Brebeuf seized control on the scoreboard late to even the match with a 25-19 victory.
The pivotal third game was played with justifiable intensity on both sides. The two teams traded points as Brebeuf’s offense continued to pick up steam and Chatard’s defense refused to yield.
Perhaps the key stretch in the match came with the score 17-15, Brebeuf. The Braves’ Hillary Porter took over the serve and produced a six-point run that included two monster kills by the Brebeuf front line.
The spurt not only secured the eventual 25-19 win, it also brought the Braves’ power game into full bloom.
Chatard could do little in Game 4 but try to withstand the storm. Brebeuf began to pepper the Trojans’ defense with bullets from all angles, and eventually the stubborn Chatard defense wilted under the pressure.
Brebeuf broke the game open and smashed their way to the championship, 25-11.
As mentioned, the four-game victory was Brebeuf’s second come-from-behind effort of the day. The Braves staved off two match points in their affair against fellow Catholic power Roncalli before avenging its regular-season loss to Chatard.
Results from the six-team Roncalli Sectional:
Match 1 – Roncalli def. Indianapolis Northwest 25-5, 25-6, 25-3
Match 2 – Brebeuf def. Indianapolis Howe Academy 25-1, 25-5, 25-7
Match 3 – Brebeuf def. Roncalli 15-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-18, 17-15
Match 4 – Indianapolis Chatard def. Beech Grove 25-18, 25-9, 25-4
Championship – Brebeuf def. Indianapolis Chatard 17-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-11
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