The New Palestine Dragons volleyball team dominated Saturday’s New Palestine Invitational, winning two matches to claim the title.
The Dragons beat Lawrence Central 25-7, 25-7 in the opening round.
Jesi Hall had seven kills and four aces. Reagan Kleiman had six kills and Jada Hausz had five. Sarah Adam had 20 assists. Grace Myers recorded seven digs and Delaney Safstrom added five. Honour Mallory provided two aces.
In the final match, the Dragons beat Southport 25-16, 25-7.
Kaelyn Armstrong posted 10 kills and six digs, while Hall also had 10 kills and Kennedy Stephenson had five. Adam had 27 assists and five digs. Myers tallied 11 digs and Trinity Oertel had five.
“Two great wins for the varsity today,” Dragons coach Kelli Gabehart said. “We have been playing well, and today was no exception. Keeping a team under 10 points is impressive, and we did that in three out of four sets.”
The Dragons are now 15-3 on the season and hosted Franklin Central on Monday.
Cougars win Challenge Tourney
The Greenfield-Central volleyball team won the Cougar Challenge Tournament on Saturday with a highlight victory over top-ranked Class 2A Heritage Christian in the final match.
The host Cougars defeated the Eagles 25-17, 13-25, 16-14.
Senior outside hitter Brooke Herrell had 10 kills in the match. Fellow outside hitter Ava Antic had seven kills. Molly Schwarzkopf recorded three blocks. Antic and Rachel Campbell both tallied 13 digs apiece.
“Today was an exciting day of volleyball for our team,” said G-C coach Ron Heck. “I am so proud of the girls for winning the tournament and only dropping one set all day. Heritage Christian is a tough team to go up against, as of Friday the 25th they were ranked 18th in the state of Indiana, and we were the first team to give them their first loss of the season. There was a total team effort in our last match of the day.”
Greenfield-Central opened the tournament with a 25-6, 25-10 win over Anderson led by Herrell’s five kills. Ali Knecht and Morgan Hornaday each had three aces.
The Cougars defeated Warren Central 25-10, 25-16 behind 10 kills and nine digs by Antic. Schwarzkopf had four aces. Knecht and Hornaday combined for 22 assists.
Greenfield-Central beat Whiteland 25-6, 25-13 with Kenley Carpenter and Antic each tallying seven kills. Campbell had eight digs.
The Cougars are now 17-6 on the season.
Marauders sweep Wildcats
The Mt. Vernon volleyball team swept past Lawrence Central 3-0 on Thursday night.
The Marauders improved to 15-4 on the season by winning 25-19, 25-20, 25-23. The victory marked Mt. Vernon’s fifth straight.
Delaney Bowser had 24 assists and four aces. Claire Ertel recorded 18 digs, followed by Abby Herman with 13, Bowser with 12 and Cecilia Bulmahn with 10. Olivia Yeley had five blocks.
The Marauders were coming off a 3-1 victory over rival Greenfield-Central last Thursday (25-17, 25-21, 26-24, 25-18).
The 4A No. 9 Marauders face Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville on Thursday.
Boy Tennis
Cougars win home finale
The Greenfield-Central boys tennis team beat Warren Central 3-2 on Saturday in during its regular-season home finale.
The Cougars won at No. 1 doubles with the singles duo of Carson Gibson and Robbie Dye teaming up for a 6-0, 6-2 victory. Garrett Neumeister, who moved into No. 3 singles play for the day, won 6-1, 6-4.
The Cougars ended their regular season with an 11-5 record and 4-3 in the HHC. Sectional play begins later this week.
Girls Soccer
Marauders beat Eagles
The Mt. Vernon girls soccer team scored eight second-half goals en route to a 12-1 win over HHC foe Delta on Saturday.
The Marauders opened with four goals in the first half to improve to 11-2 on the season and 5-1 in the HHC.
Anna Isger, Katie Gawrys and Shay Shipley each recorded hat tricks in the game. Isger added six assists, and Shipley had one.
Mattie Isger had a goal and an assist. Anna Miller and Lillian Muhlenkamp had one goal apiece. Shay Stindle and Mariam Konate both had one assist.
Dragons blank Bloomington North
The New Palestine girls soccer team won a 1-0 game Saturday over Bloomington North at Kelso Stadium.
Bethany Aldridge scored on a one-touch shot off a feed from Anna Luker for the game’s only goal. Whitney Miller earned the shutout in net. Coach Erin Clark also lauded the defensive effort of Addi Jones in helping seal the shutout.
The Dragons (8-5) competed on Monday at Shelbyville.
Cougars fall to Columbus North
The Greenfield-Central girls soccer team lost 4-2 against ninth-ranked Columbus North on Saturday.
The host Cougars trailed 4-1 after halftime and cut into the deficit in the final 40 minutes despite four starters sidelined for various reasons.
The win was Columbus North’s 13th consecutive.
Greenfield-Central’s erased Columbus North’s bid at a shutout in the first half when Kelsi McLaughlin scored a penalty kick goal to make it 4-1. McLaughlin buried her next goal off an assist from Cora Bishop in the second half.
The Cougars are now 7-7-1 on the season and play their final regular-season game on Thursday vs. Franklin Community at home.
Boys Soccer
Marauders fall to Arabians
The Mt. Vernon boys soccer team lost its final conference game of the season, 3-2, against Pendleton Heights on Thursday.
The Marauders held a 2-0 lead after the first half, but the visiting Arabians rallied back with at 3-goal second half to win the HHC match.
Mt. Vernon’s goals were credited to Taylor Lorsung and Zach Johnson. Aiden Cappelletti and Evan LeRoy each recorded assists.
The Marauders are 5-8-1 on the season and finished 3-4 in the HHC.
