[ad_1]
MUNCIE, Ind. — College and high school fall sports are quickly coming to an end.
But action still continued for non-football athletes last week, with local squads and runners enjoying success and suffering defeat.
Here’s what went down with non-football Ball State University sports and East-Central Indiana semi-state cross country and regional volleyball from Oct. 22-24:
Delta cross country sophomore wins semi-state
Continuing her stellar sophomore campaign, Delta cross country sophomore Nicki Southerland became the New Haven semi-state champion at Huntington University on Saturday, Oct. 23.
She finished with a time of 17:55.1 minutes, her third-best time of the season and first sub-18-minute mark of the postseason. It was more than 23 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Southerland will compete in the state meet in Terre Haute on Oct. 30. She was, however, the lone ECI runner to advance past semi-state as neither another individual or team made the cut.
Monroe Central (12th place, 312 points) was the highest-finishing local team in the boys division, and Delta (15th, 392) were the highest-place local girls team. Wapahani boys (15th, 355) and Yorktown boys (18th, 440), as well as Yorktown girls (17th, 462), also placed.
Monroe Central sported two top-50 boys finishers in senior Tucker Burris (40th, 16:57.3) and senior Carter Miller (48th, 17:04.8).
Wapahani’s top-2 boys finishers were sophomore Nick Cook (60th, 17:12.6) and senior Brandon Ellis (64ht, 17:16.8).
Yorktown’s top boy finisher was senior Luke Harber (36th place, 16:48.7), and the top girl finisher was junior Alison Smith (99th, 21:44.3)
Delta senior Makayla Robles placed 40th with a time of 20:24.6.
High school volleyball regionals
Yorktown falls in regional final
After sweeping its first-round regional matchup, the reigning Class 4A state champion Yorktown Tigers (29-4) were eliminated 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21) by Roncalli (28-5) on Saturday at Greenfield-Central.
RELATED: ‘This is going to leave a sting’; Yorktown volleyball falls in IHSAA regional championship
Yorktown previously lost this season to the Royals 2-0 (25-17, 25-22) in a tournament on Aug. 28.
Freshman star Charlotte Vinson led the team with 14 kills and three aces, followed by senior Ava Eakins with eight kills. Yorktown’s kill percentage was 26.8%, while Roncalli’s was 40%. Freshman Addi Applegate notched 18 digs, and junior Emilee Hill had 32 assists.
The Tigers dominated their earlier regional matchup against Cathedral, winning 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-18). Vinson had 13 kills, Applegate had 16 digs and Hill had 30 assists.
Daleville swept in regional final
Daleville (24-8) was swept 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-12) by Lafayette Central Catholic (25-9) in the regional championship on Saturday at Wes-Del.
The Broncos’ kill percentage was just 21.7%, while the Knights’ was 50%. Junior Amarah McPhaul and senior Julia Andreassa led the offense with five kills each. Senior Emi Isom notched 15 digs and junior Emilee Finley had 14 assists.
Daleville defeated South Newtown 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 15-7) in the first round. Andreassa (23 kills) and Audrey Voss (19 kills) both tallied a season-highs. Finley added four aces and a season-high 45 assists.
BSU women’s tennis plays in ITA Ohio Valley regional
In its second-to-last fall competition of the season, BSU women’s tennis competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Ohio Valley regional on Oct. 22-23.
On the first day, Cardinals singles players Mariya Polishchuk (6-0, 6-1), Amy Kaplan (6-3, 6-3) and Emma Peeler (6-4, 6-0) all won their first-round matchups, but the team failed to advance anyone to the Round of 32.
The doubles team of Polishchuk and Hannah Davies advanced after winning their match 8-7 (2).
They would compete in the singles consolation bracket the following day. Five Cardinals emerged victorious, with Polishchuk (6-3, 6-1), Jessica Braun (6-1, 6-1), Peeler (5-7, 7-6 (3), 11-9), Hannah Davies (6-2, 6-0) and Kaplan (6-2, 6-1) winning their singles matches. The doubles team of Livia Lukacs and Braun also won their match 8-4.
BSU women’s tennis team wraps up its 2021 fall schedule next weekend at the University of Louisville on Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
BSU women’s volleyball earns consecutive MAC sweeps
BSU women’s volleyball improved to 20-3, 10-1 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) behind only 11-0 Bowling Green, after back-to-back sweeps of Western Michigan University on Oct. 22-23.
The team has won 10 contests in a row.
The Cardinals first won 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19) behind a strong offensive performance as they ended hitting hitting .336 (47-9-113). It was their fourth-best attacking effort of the season and the sixth time they’ve hit above .300 in a match.
Natalie Mitchem led the way with a team-high 11 kills, hitting .458 without a single error in 24 attempts. Lauren Gilliland notched 10 kills and a .533 (10-2-15) hitting percentage. Maggie Huber led all players with 15 digs and three aces.
BSU then enjoyed another sweep the next day, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-17) behind Gilliland’s career-best .818 (9-0-11) hitting percentage with nine kills. The Cardinals as a team hit .320 (50-11-122).
Mitchem led all attackers with 12 kills, and Natalie Risi added 11. Megan Wielonski tallied four kills and notched her 13th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 15 digs.
BSU will host Miami at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, for Chirp or Treat.
BSU women’s soccer wins shutout
BSU women’s soccer held its Senior Day on Sunday, honoring Grace Alsop, Claudia Como, Sammi Corcoran, Alex DeRuvo, Jenna Dombrowski, Kerrigan Johnson, Tatiana Mason, Kennedy Metzger, Lizzie Philibin, Chelcy Ralph, and Lexy Smith.
The Cardinals (5-9-2, 3-5-2 MAC) then exploded offensively for a dominant 5-0 at Northern Illinois University. The BSU defense was also formidable and held NIU to just four shots, one on goal. The Cardinal offense had 18 shots, 10 on goal, and it held possession for 68% of the time.
After earning a lead initially following an own-goal by NIU, BSU goals were scored by Metzger (17′), Avery Fenchel (29′), Lexi Fraley (32′) and Abby Elgert.
BSU returns home to the Briner Sports Complex for the season finale against Miami at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28.
Gus Martin is a sports reporter at The Star Press. Follow him on Twitter @GusMartin_SP, and contact him at gmartin@gannett.com or 765-729-4742.
[ad_2]
Source link