Kera (8) and Sophie Wischmeier (6) soar for the block attempt against Indianapolis Scecina at Columbus East High School.
Dakota Locker | The Tribune
Adelynn Anderson, Kaitlyn Williams and Kera Wischmeier are the seniors on the Brownstown Central volleyball team, and they are excited about playing in the Class 2A state championship match against Muncie Burris.
Tecumseh (32-4) will play Southwood (31-4) for the Class A title at 11 a.m. Saturday. Brownstown (24-13) will face Burris (30-4) at approximately 1:30 p.m. for the Class 2A championship at Worthen Arena on the Ball State University campus in Muncie.
Providence (30-5) will play Bellmont (34-2) at 4:30 for the 3A title, and Castle (34-30) will battle Hamilton Southeastern (32-0) for the 4A title at 7 p.m.
This will be coach Jennifer Shade’s 10th trip to the state finals. She coached the Braves to the state championship in 2019 over Bellmont. Burris has won 22 state titles with the Owls’ last coming in 2010.
All three Brownstown seniors said they have been playing volleyball since middle school.
“I am so stoked I’m shaking,” Wischmeier said after receiving the semistate trophy at Columbus East High School last Saturday.
She talked about Scecina being a tough opponent.
“They kept us on our toes. I was late a couple of times because they ran something different than I thought they were going to, but we kept playing hard,” she said.
Wischmeier, who has 159 kills, a team-leading 48 blocks and 29 digs, spoke about the unbelievable ending of the match.
“The game kept you on the edge of your seat, but it was exciting,” she said. “It was really rewarding to pull it off and just get it done so we could go to state.”
Anderson said the semistate victory was totally a team effort.
“We worked together and we had our down moments, but we came back and we worked together to get this win,” she said. “The fourth set, we thought we had it at point 19, but they ended up coming back. We ended up winning because we worked together.”
Anderson is a defensive specialist and has 15 digs for the season.
“Scecina had a lot of tips, which were very difficult, but we got those up, and we were OK,” she said.
The Braves play a strong schedule with numerous Class 3A and 4A teams, and Anderson said she feels like that schedule prepared the Braves for the tournament.
Williams has been a setter for the Braves this season and has 396 assists to go along with 96 digs. She said she felt like the team did a good job of running their offense against Scecina.
“I feel all-around, we made really good plays as a team,” Williams said. “We fell apart a little bit, but we built ourselves up really well. Instead of one person, it takes a team to win a match like the semistate.”
She said the team worked as a unit to pull out the tough win over the Crusaders.
“It’s always six of us, and we work as a team. I think Scecina was tough because they didn’t let many balls drop,” she said. “They just kept it in play, so we just had to make sure we were wearing them down and hitting the ball so hard they couldn’t pick it up. The energy of both teams was insane.”
Williams said going to state is the dream when you compete in high school volleyball.
“With this being my senior year, this is the best thing someone in sports could even wish for, and I feel so thankful that I get to do it,” she said. “We have confidence. We’re going to work hard all week.”
This is Shade’s 26th season as head coach of the Braves. She has a record of 689-250, and that includes 21 sectional titles and 16 regional titles.
A member of Shade’s first team was Paige Deck Wheeler. That team went to state in 1998. Paige is now an assistant volleyball coach, and her daughter, Finley, is a member of this team.