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Knights separate themselves in race for conference supremacy
One of the first goals Northview’s volleyball team looks to accomplish every fall is winning the Western Indiana Conference championship. And while the Knights didn’t finish the job this week, they took three big steps closer to doing it.
Class 3A No. 3 Northview swept Cloverdale and Sullivan on the road earlier in the week and then did the same to Indian Creek at home on Saturday afternoon to keep itself atop the conference standings with a little over three weeks left to go in the regular season.
“We just wanted to get in here and win these games,” said Northview head coach Scott McDonald. “Obviously, winning conference is our first goal, so we want to make sure we take care of that. We also wanted to make sure we played better today than we did earlier in the week because I didn’t feel like we played very well against Sullivan.”
Northview made quick work of the Braves in the first and third sets, winning by respective scores of 25-13 and 25-17. However, it was the middle set that showed why the Lady Knights are one of the highest ranked teams in Class 3A.
Northview was backed against the wall on multiple occasions during the middle set – trailing 20-15, 22-19, 25-24 and 26-25 – but found a way out of it each time, the final stretch coming with three straight kills punctuated by senior standout Keira Lucas that got those in attendance on their feet in excitement.
“They know they can hit their way out of [any deficit],” said McDonald. “We were just way too sloppy to begin the set. Our serve-receive wasn’t nearly as strong as it has been. Our defense was kind of going through the motions, but we were able to find a different way to win a game … The kids just turned it up in a big set that could’ve made today way different because if we lose, it’s 1-1 but instead, it’s 2-0.”
Getting points No. 26, 27 and 28 in the middle of the three sets on kills was a microcosm of the day that was for the hosts. Using their strong outside and middle hitters, the Knights blasted the ball into the hardwood floor time after time, leaving the Indian Creek defenders shaking their heads in disbelief.
Altogether, Northview recorded 43 kills in the three-set sweep. But what encouraged McDonald was the number of players – Lucas (18), Buck (8), Alex Strahla (7), Rachel Rounds (5) and Kaylee Krause (5) – that had a hand in that, noting the ability of setters Karsyn Buck and Morgan Oellig to spread the wealth on Saturday afternoon.
“Morgan and Karsyn really moved the ball around. I thought Rachel had a good game. She had a lot of big swings in big spots. And Alex played well too,” said McDonald. “We can’t be one- or two-dimensional. We have to be able to move the ball around, and today, I thought we did a much better job of that.”
With the victory over Indian Creek, Northview extended its winning streak to a season-best 12 games. It also improved the team’s season record to 20-1, marking the third consecutive season the Knights have won at least 20 games, an achievement McDonald doesn’t take for granted. And with eight regular season games, as well as the postseason, to follow, Northview has a strong chance to pass the 30-win threshold for the first time since 2018.
“To get to 20 wins is sort of like accomplishing another goal,” McDonald said. "When you win 20 games, that’s a lot. We have a really front loaded schedule, so that means even more to us as far as getting to that 20-win mark. The biggest thing for us today was getting a conference win. We’re hoping to get a few more of those before the end of the season.”
Northview continues its tour through the conference next week with a pair of matchups against Greencastle (Wednesday) and North Putnam (Thursday). If the Knights can win both, they’ll create a significant gap between themselves and whichever team occupies second-place.