The 2024-25 Lady Braves secured another regional championship on Saturday afternoon at Jennings County High School on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
The team hoists the regional trophy minutes after clinching the win over Tecumseh in the final.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Olivia Fritz serves for the Lady Braves on Saturday in the regional final win over Tecumseh.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Sophie Wischmeier soars for the kill attempt on Saturday afternoon at Jennings County in the regional final.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Alex Davidson serves for the team in the regional final against Tecumseh on Saturday afternoon.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
BC’s Finley Wheeler (2) and Kinzee Dean (10) timed the block attempt for the Lady Braves on Saturday against Tecumseh in the regional final.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
NORTH VERNON — Brownstown Central inched another step closer to their ultimate goal on Saturday afternoon, sweeping Tecumseh in the regional final in straight sets, 25-19, 25-15, and 25-17.
The win advances the team to the Martinsville Semistate next weekend, where they will need to win two games to advance to the state final in Muncie.
The team played with plenty of finesse and showed their power, when necessary, while also being opportunistic in picking their spots to expose the Tecumseh defense on Saturday.
Brownstown head coach Jennifer Shade clinched her 22nd sectional as coach last weekend and picked up her 17th regional title after the win on Saturday. The legendary volleyball coach spoke about adding another accomplishment to her decorated coaching career.
“It was a total team effort,” Shade said. “If you look at our stats and watched us play, you could see that everybody contributed in some way and that we didn’t have to rely on one person in certain areas and that’s what makes us awesome as a team.”
Jaydynn Yeadon and Finley Wheeler were asked about securing another regional title for the program.
“It’s awesome, we’re set out for state, that’s really what it means,” Yeadon said. “We’re not going to be done until we get there.”
Wheeler said the experience of winning and losing has helped the team in this postseason.
“It’s just amazing,” Wheeler said. “We have had that feeling of winning and losing so we came in prepared and worked together to get the win. It’s awesome to do it with these girls again.”
The Lady Braves battled Tecumseh throughout the day, especially in that first set. Kinzee Dean and Sophie Wischmeier were taking over the beginning part of the set before Tecumseh came back.
After a run from Tecumseh, Brownstown trailed 16-14 before Coach Shade called a timeout.
From that timeout, it was all Brownstown Central, finishing the opening set on an 11-3 run to win, never looking back to sweep the opposition in three sets.
The coach spoke on the importance of that timeout and how it helped the team refocus.
“It’s a regional, so everyone was playing uptight,” Shade said. “So, passing is a little bit off or girls can serve a little too deep. I think we just needed that moment to stop and relax and just take a breath.”
Yeadon mentioned that the coach spoke to them about seizing control of the match.
“We were on defense at that time,” Yeadon said. “Coach Shade just told us if we could take control and win that first set that we could win three. We just came back out of there and fought for it.”
Wheeler said the team came together after that timeout.
“We came together,” Wheeler said. “We realized that we couldn’t let one mistake, or one ball change the entire outcome of the game. We regrouped and looked better from there.”
In the next set, Brownstown took advantage of every inch of the floor, besting Tecumseh defenders throughout, cruising to a 10-point second set victory.
The team continued their momentum into the final set, taking a 9-4 stranglehold on the match after a huge point from Claire Brock. Brock scored two straight points later in the set to make it 17-11 before a kill from Dean made it 20-13.
Dean made it 23-14 before the Braves would secure another regional title as the team celebrated with the fans and students of Brownstown Central.
The play upfront was huge as Tecumseh couldn’t use their powerful kill attempts to their advantage, meeting a wall on the other side for most of the match.
Coach Shade spoke about her girls’ play at the net afterwards.
“We did a great job up there today. Overall, we always do a good job up front,” Shade said. We have a big front line, and I just think we have players across the board, and we don’t have many holes in our team.”
Yeadon led the team with three aces. The offensive firepower was on display as the Lady Braves racked up 50 kills as a team, led by Sophie Wischmeier’s 12 and Dean’s 11. Addison Darlage recorded 9 of them in the win.
The team will face a familiar foe from last year’s postseason run in the opening match on Saturday.
Brownstown will meet Indianapolis Scecina in the semistate semifinal at noon on Saturday at Martinsville High School. If the team can secure a win, they will meet Winchester or Barr-Reeve in the semistate final at 7 p.m. that evening.
If they can advance, they will move onto Worthen Arena in Muncie for the State Championship the following week. Both Yeadon and Wheeler spoke about how they can advance next weekend.
“We all got to work as one, yes we have to play individually but at the end of the day it’s a team sport,” Yeadon said. “We must continue coming together as a unit. That is how we are going to get there.”
Aggressive play will continue to help the team according to Wheeler.
“Working together and making aggressive plays and aggressive serves,” she said.
Regional Final — Saturday
Brownstown Central 3, Tecumseh 0
Brownstown Central def. Tecumseh, 25-19, 25-15, 25-17
Serve-Attempt-Aces
Serving: Finley Wheeler, 19-19-0, Alex Davidson, 18-19-1, Jaydynn Yeadon, 10-11-3, team, 67-70-6
Attempts-Total-Kills
Hitting: Sophie Wischmeier, 27-27-12, Kinzee Dean, 21-22-11, Addison Darlage, 16-17-9, team, 97-103-50