A sweet sweep

Pioneer beats Logansport in volleyball

By BEAU WICKER

Pioneer’s volleyball team has struggled at times in the early season, but not on Tuesday night.

The Panthers overcame a decided height disadvantage against Logansport with solid all-around play to sweep the Berries 25-21, 25-17, 27-25 in Royal Center. Pioneer improved to 7-5 while Logan suffered its first setback of the season to fall to 3-1.

“That means a lot,” Panther freshman Kattie Lee said of beating the Berries, “because a lot of people said we weren’t going to have a chance and some coaches said they were really good. But overall I think they were good but I think we were better.”

Logan has five regulars who are around 6-foot tall, while Pioneer has just two players who are taller than 5-8 and those players, Ashley Gerlach and Katie Galbreath, are both 5-10.

“We play together, we stay pumped up and we know our game,” said Lee, who stands at 5-8, of overcoming the Berries’ height.

Pioneer coach Rod Nies was pleased with his squad’s performance.

“This is the first game that I’ve actually seen them play to this level,” he said. “I’ve been telling my girls to play with some intensity and some excitement. If we play like that, we can beat anybody in the state. It’s that simple. But they’ve got to play at that next level.”

The Panthers feature several players with a jump serve, and Pioneer’s serving was one of the keys to the contest.

“We served a lot better, we served at a lot higher percentage,” Nies said. “I just told my girls to keep the serves in, keep the pressure on their serve receive. They seemed to have some problems with some ball control.”

Logan coach Jamee Jones said her squad struggled to set up its big hitters to take advantage of its height.

“We could not get into our offense whatsoever, and it’s frustrating,” she said. “They hit every open spot that we left wide open for them. ... We didn’t execute [Tuesday night].

“We didn’t get to where we needed to be covering. And passes are incredibly important to our offense. And if we can’t get good passes, that leads to a good set, and if we can’t get good sets, we’re not going to execute our game plan.”

The Panthers toughened up their schedule for this season, and it may have paid off Tuesday night.

“We were 6-5 coming into tonight, and I was kind of questioning that,” Nies said. “But I think it’s going to pay off. I hope it will.”

He added that to deal with Logan’s height, “We tried to double block everything, and I’ve got some girls who play front row who’ve got some pretty good hops. Although we look small, we play a lot bigger than what we are.”

Lee contributed nine kills, eight digs, three aces and a block in the win. Gerlach had nine kills, four blocks and two aces.

Cole collected 11 digs, and Kelsey Williams had eight digs, six kills and five blocks. Cortney Hanson dished out 30 assists and added five digs and three blocks. Marissa Centers added four kills and six blocks.

Katie Champion led the Berries with 11 kills, six digs and two aces.

Logansport and Pioneer could possibly face each other again Saturday at the Logan Classic.

Cass 3, Rochester 2

The Kings topped the Zebras 27-25, 18-25, 25-20, 11-25, 15-10 in Walton.

Abby Ropes had 14 kills, 12 digs and eight blocks in the win. Sydney DeHaven collected 19 assists and 11 kills.

Brook Hill had 13 digs and Sarah Robertson added 11. Taylor Miller had nine kills.

“It’s matches like this where we have been running into trouble,” Cass coach Cheryl Lane said. “If we don’t win in three, we have struggled to pull out the win. Hopefully, [Tuesday night] was a turning point for the girls. We had ups and downs throughout the match. Being consistent in the good things we do is a struggle right now. We are taking small steps towards changing that and I feel like the girls have the drive to do it.

“I knew Rochester would be tough going in even though they are young. They are so well coached, and they will be a force to be reckoned with by the end of the season.”

Rochester won the JV match 25-17, 25-12.

Caston 3, Argos 0

The Comets improved to 2-7 with a 25-12, 25-12, 25-13 win in Fulton.

Brittney Baldwin had nine kills and two aces, and Haley Markley recorded eight kills, three aces and two digs. Katelyn Miller collected 22 assists and eight aces.

“We played better as a team,” Caston coach Heather Schuller said. “We had a better serve percentage and offensively our passing has improved. [Tuesday night] it showed and we played more of an all-around game.”

Caston’s other win this season was a three-game win over South Newton at the Tri-County Invite Saturday.

Caston’s JV topped Argos 25-10, 25-10.

Winamac 3, Culver 0

The Warriors won on the road, 25-18, 25-11, 25-18, to move to 13-1.

Allie DeFries had 16 kills, four blocks and nine aces for Winamac. Rachael Franko collected 10 kills and five digs. Sarah Redweik set up 23 assists.

“This was a solid performance by all our girls,” Winamac coach Cathy DeFries said. “We played really well in the second and third games, especially with our passing. Once we got our passing under control, things started to flow a little better offensively. Allie DeFries played a very smart game getting around the blocks when needed and tipping to the open spots on the court. Rachael Franko had a nice game as well adding 10 kills to the mix. Our serving was top notch and became very effective at crucial times.”

W. Central 3, Morgan Twp. 0

Rylie Pfledderer had 15 assists and three aces in the Trojans’ 25-23, 25-10, 25-21 road win. Makenna Hamilton had nine kills and Riley Cervenka added six.

Pioneer 2, Logansport 0 (JV)

The Panthers won 25-24, 25-15. Lindsey Miller had five digs, five assists and two aces in the win.

Winamac 2, LaCrosse 0 (JV)

Jina Field recorded 16 aces in Winamac’s 25-12, 25-12 win Monday night. Whitney Hook had eight assists, and Rachel Tetzloff and Jessica Schramm had three kills apiece.

Logansport 2, Laf. Jeff 0 (9th)

The JV Berries moved to 2-0 with a 25-9, 25-15 win. Shannon Sink had 12 service points and two aces, Seanna Redman had nine service points and two aces and Megan Vaughan led the team in assists.

Girls golf

Winamac 213, W. Central 228, S. Newton 245

The Warriors’ Alexis Calabrese was the medalist with a 48 at Moss Creek Golf Course. Other players for Winamac (5-4) included Jenna Linback (54), Sami Rife (55), Samantha Mollencupp (56) and Felicia Gradowski (61).

Boys tennis

Cass 3, Hamilton Heights 2

The Kings recorded the Mid-Indiana Conference win on the road.

Sean Ritz defeated Max Wampler 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) at No. 1 singles. Oliver Matzke defeated Tommy Dunbar 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Isaac Yentes and Tyler Ploss defeated Tyler Elmore and Jack Hiatt 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.

“It was nice for the boys to travel into Heights and avenge our loss in our invitational last Saturday,” Cass coach Brian Thomas said. “All the varsity matches were back and forth, any of them could have gone the other way. Isaac and Tyler did an excellent job coming back from a dropped first set to seal the win for the team.”

Cass 3, Hamilton Heights 2 (JV)

Riley Johnson 8-5 in singles action, and Zac Carbaugh and Caleb Davis won 8-4 and Chris Laudenschlager and Nick Jackson won 8-5 in doubles play.

Girls CC

Logan hosts Kokomo, Mac

Maconaquah easily won the meet with Logansport finishing second.

Leading the Berries was junior runner Sarah Lowry, followed by Bailey McIntire, Allison Morrill, Gabrielle McIntire and Danika Espinoza.

Boys CC

Maconaquah 28, Kokomo 38, Logansport 64

Kyle Overway led the Berries with a first-place finish in 16:20. He was followed by Daniel Arteaga (11th), Clayton Stuart (16th), Michael Anderson (17th) and Alex Ellington (21st).

“The guys ran really well, even if we did lose,” Logan coach Chris Middleton said. “The guys’ times are better than they were at this time last year.”

Boys soccer

Caston 3, Rochester 0

Garrett Johnson netted his second hat trick in a row to lead the Comets to the win in Rochester.

Goalkeeper Donnie McClain posted his first shutout of the season. He had two critical saves that threatened goal. Francis Dale, Tyler Henderson and Max Foreman all had strong performances on the back line. Cody Franklin had an assist.

Carroll 4, Rossville 2

Michael Myer recorded a hat trick and Jarvis Simmons added a goal for Carroll (2-3, 2-0 Hoosier Heartland Conference).

Myer, Kate Hickner, Blake Seward and Tim Ruby each added an assist. Jeremy Hayes had five saves.

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