SPENCER
The Brownstown Central volleyball team moved to a new sectional this fall but that didn’t seem to slow the Braves down in their opening match of the Owen Valley sectional 26 Thursday night.
The Braves rolled past West Vigo 25-7, 25-5, 25-8 to remain unbeaten against Class 3A teams this fall.
“Starting the season it was a little bit tougher, because we had to do a little bit more traveling in scouting than in the past; we hadn’t seen these teams,” Braves coach Jennifer Shade said. “We just knew if we could be aggressive serving and aggressive on our attack, it would make the game a lot easier.”
The Braves (26-5) were 69-74-19 in serving and had 42 attack kills.
The Braves started out strong in all three sets, leading 9-2 in the first set.
A block by Jennifer Pence and Kendra McCory gave the Braves a 5-2 lead, and a kill by Pence put her team on top 8-2. An ace by Halle Hehman set the score 17-3, and set point came on an ace from Riley Nuss.
The Braves were leading 3-2 in the second set when Reagan Nuss stepped to the serving line and reeled off 13 straight points, including five aces, for a 16-2 cushion.
The Vikings didn’t record back-to-back points until it was 21-3.
The Braves continued to dominate in the third set leading 10-2, on an ace by Keeli Darlage set the score 13-3, another ace by Erin Singleton made the score 22-5, and match point came on a kill by Pence.
Reagan Nuss was 24-24-6 in serves. McCory topped the Braves in kills with 13 and Addie Wilkerson had 11.
Shade said she felt like her team held errors to a minimum.
“That’s been our goal in the tournament, that if you make one error its okay you have to come back and stop and don’t get any more than just one," Shade said. “They couldn’t stop our attacking.”
Brownstown Central will play the winner of the Owen Valley and Northview match in the second semifinal on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Knights made it all the way to the state final last year, but fell to New Castle in straight sets.
Owen Valley won the regular season match against Northview in three sets.