New Palestine’s Reagan Kleiman celebrates the final point and win over Connersville on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — From the outside, the right side and the middle – even the setter, too – it seemed everyone in the New Palestine lineup was finishing attacks against visiting Connersville.
On Monday, the Dragons won a three-set sweep, 25-14, 25-16, 25-12 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
In the first set, the Dragons had kills from five different players. A sixth joined the stat sheet early in the second.
The expected attackers — returning All-Hoosier Heritage Conference hitters Reagan Kleiman and Lauren Wilson — weren’t the only ones benefiting from the sets of senior Isabella Gizzi.
Junior Bella Brownfield had six first-set kills. Junior middle Rachel Burke had three. Gizzi finished off a couple of points with well-timed tips.
Right side hitter Nyla Lewis joined the kill club in the second set.
“It’s really nice to have a ton of different options,” setter Gizzi said. “I love being able to set whoever whenever. It doesn’t matter where the ball is, any of my hitters can hit it in the right spot or get it over the net at any time. I trust all of my hitters, so I don’t have to set a certain person. They’re all really good. I have my go-tos, but they are all really good so I think my options are always open.”
Kleiman led the way with 13 kills. Brownfield had nine and was efficient, getting her total on just 14 swings. Wilson finished with eight. Gizzi had five and 31 assists.
A first-set kill from Brownfield broke a 7-7 tie.
The first of five service aces from senior libero Honour Mallory made it 9-7. A Kleiman kill gave the Dragons a three-point lead.
After a service error, New Palestine scored the next four points. Brownfield and Kleiman had two kills each.
Burke finished off an attack to grow the Dragons lead to eight, 18-10.
New Pal led most of the second set. The Spartans scored the first point, but the Dragons followed with the next five.
Wilson had two kills and Lewis had another. A service ace from Sydney Oliver and a Connersville attack error accounted for the 5-0 run.
The third set was a bigger challenge, but that all went away from the serve rotation went back to Mallory.
The Dragons, with the senior libero starting the point, went from down 8-7 to leading 17-8.
Mallory had three service aces on the 10-0 run. Gizzi went to Kleiman — one of her “go-tos” — for three more points.
Kleiman, the 6-foot, 1-inch middle committed to play at Taylor University, put away a Connersville over-pass for another point. Brownfield scored again and a Gizzi tip dropped in, too.
“We’ve got lots of players that are contributing and scoring points,” head coach Kelli Gabehart, in her 10th season with the Dragons, said. “Reagan had 13 kills. Lauren’s got eight and Bella Brownfield had nine. Our setter had five. It’s really a balanced attack.”
The Dragons look to go 3-0 on Thursday with a home match with Guerin Catholic.
“Overall, I thought we played pretty well, but not to our full potential,” Kleiman said.
