ANGOLA — West Noble’s girls volleyball team continued to carry out early season objectives on Thursday evening with a sweep at Angola, 25-18, 25-15, 25-15.
The Chargers are coming off a breakthrough season where they went 29-3 and won Northeast Corner Conference regular season and tournament championships last year.
But the end did not sit well for West Noble coach Alison Mead and her team. They lost in four sets to NorthWood in the Class 3A Wawasee Sectional. The Panthers were a little over .500 and ended up 21-15 and in a 3A semi-state championship match.
Before that run, NorthWood had girls used to being in big environments, like seeing or playing in semi-states in front of big crowds. A revved-up sectional final with more eyes watching than usual, was newer to the Chargers.
Mead cranked up the schedule some and was willing to take on more losses to help the Chargers get better. They added perennial Northeast Indiana power Concordia and beat the Cadets on the road in four sets on Aug. 20.
West Noble will be playing in an invitational hosted by Class 3A state-ranked Indianapolis Cathedral on Sept. 19.
The Chargers have also had some strong competition recently at their early season invitational and were second to Heritage. They lost to the Patriots in two sets. Heritage is 11-2 with its losses coming back-to-back last week in sweeps by nationally-ranked Carroll on the road and Concordia at home.
West Noble played its first eight matches without its best player Elyse Mead due to injury. She was wearing a walking boot on one of her legs in early August.
“Everybody contributed without Elyse,” Alison Mead said. “The leadership of our seniors and our setters (Ella Limerick and Kaylin Slone) was big. We’ve learned the mental part of the game.
“Izzy (Beers) is better than she was last year on the right side. Our middles have head great seasons so far. Reagan (Eash) is steady and a whole lot better than she was last year. Ava (DeLong) has really been swinging hard.”
Another Mead is leading the team in kills, 5-foot-11 freshman Lydia. She did not shy away from the opportunity without playing with her older sister.
“Lydia has quite a bit of club experience,” her mother Alison said. “The girls have accepted her. She has a strong personality that meshes well with older girls.
On Thursday, Elyse Mead had 11 kills and six digs for the Chargers (11-1, 3-0 NECC). Ella Limerick had 21 assists and five kills, and Addy Burns had seven digs and four aces.
First-year Hornet coach Eva Foulk saw some good things from her team in the first two sets.
Angola (4-6, 0-2) has a lot of experience back, but lacks the star power it has had the paat several years. Foulk is getting girls accustomed to new roles and looks to build the team to be diverse and dangerous come sectional time.
“We’re growing each game and want to work on things that haven’t gone well,” Foulk said. “We want to play with high energy and communicate with each other well on the court.”
In the junior varsity match, West Noble defeated the Hornets 25-3, 25-16.
Amenthis Shaffer had seven kills and four digs for the Chargers. Lauren Coy had 16 assists and Brooklyn Barden had six aces.
On Tuesday, West Noble swept visiting Tippecanoe Valley 25-12, 25-12, 25-16 and Angola was swept at NECC rival Fairfield 25-19, 25-20, 27-25.
In Ligonier, the junior Limerick picked up the 1,000th assist of her prep career. She had 18 assists and 10 digs against the Vikings.
Mead had 19 kills, 10 digs and two block assists for West Noble. Lydian Mead had seven kills, three block assists and put all 14 of her serves in play with two aces. Beers had 10 digs, Slone had 10 assists, and DeLong has four block assists.
In Benton, Paige Park had 12 kills and 12 digs to lead the Falcons. Jenna Fought had 23 assists and four aces.
Khloe Stanner had 11 kills, five digs, two aces and a solo block for the Hornets. Gracie Fulton had 27 assists and four digs, and Cali Hamilton had nine digs.
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