By James Howell Jr. | For Daily Reporter
PENDLETON — The competition among the volleyball teams of the Hoosier Heritage Conference is impressive year-in and year-out.
For any team to make it through unscathed is nearly impossible, and it was evident on Thursday night.
For the New Palestine Dragons (11-2, 2-1 HHC), the first blemish to their HHC record came on the road at Pendleton Heights (21-3, 2-2 HHC) in straight sets.
The Arabians were on their A-game with their biggest powerhouses in senior Avery Ross and junior Ramsey Gary ready to defend their home court.
The Arabians held strong behind the dynamic duo with a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-17, 25-19).
Early on it was clear that Ross was going to be a force.
“We knew coming into this one that Avery Ross was going to be a problem for us,” Dragons head coach Kelli Gabehart said. “And she was. She is very talented.”
What Gabehart and the Dragons did not see coming was the speed of play from the Arabians.
“Simply their middle hitters caught us off guard,” Gabehart said. “They were very quick and we weren’t ready.”
The Arabians jumped ahead early in the first set at Ross’s pace. She put down four kills through the Arabians’ first 13 points.
Those 13 points gave the Arabians a 13-6 cushion, which turned out to be more than enough in the first set. Ross finished the set with seven kills, despite multiple blocks from Reagan Kleiman and Isabella Gizzi for the Dragons.
On the Dragons side, four hitting errors slowed any momentum.
The errors carried over into the second set, with four more.
In this set, however, freshman Lauren Wilson found more of a groove offensively for the Dragons. She was able to tally four kills in the set to keep it competitive.
In the end, it was Indiana University commit Gary that put an end to the set with back-to-back aces.
In the third set, Jada Hausz stepped up with two massive blocks and three kills. Along with multiple kills from Kleiman and Wilson in the set, the Dragons stayed composed and battled it out with the Arabians.
In the end, Ross and her sister Mikala Ross were too much to topple. The sister duo had six kills combined in the set.
Avery Ross finished the night with a total of 17 kills.
For the Dragons, Wilson led the scoring with 10 kills. Kleiman followed her with nine kills and Hausz finished with six.
Gizzi was consistent in her setting all night, finishing with 21 assists. Trinity Oertel was a force behind the serving line with four aces.
All-in-all, Gabehart believes her team gained valuable experience against the Arabians.
“We learned a lot in this one,” Gabehart said. “You don’t want to lose to a conference opponent, but it’s important to not get hung up on it. (We have to) shake this one off and prepare for next week because we have another big one with New Castle next week.”
The Dragons will first take the court against the Mooresville Pioneers on Monday night before returning to conference play against the Trojans next Thursday night.
