BROWNSTOWN

Brownstown Central High School’s volleyball team faced adversity for the first time Thursday.

After dropping its first set of the 2018 season but leading 2-1, Braves coach Jennifer Shade challenged her team to make a statement. She challenged the girls to prove they were the better team on the floor.

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The Class 3A No. 6 Braves came through.

Brownstown (5-0) stayed perfect on the season by sweeping Class 4A No. 14 Floyd Central 25-14, 25-16, 16-25, 25-18 in a battle of ranked teams.

In the first set, the teams tied twice before the Highlanders went on a 5-0 scoring run to lead 9-5, prompting a Braves timeout.

Out of the break, a block by senior Heidi Booher got the Braves rolling on a 6-0 scoring streak, and the Braves took their first lead at 11-10.

Up 14-12, Braves freshman Reagan Nuss served up six winning points to put Brownstown up 20-12, forcing a Floyd Central timeout.

The Braves had no problems the remainder of the first set, as a pair of kills by sophomore Kendra McCory closed the set at 25-14.

In the second set, the Braves jumped to a 5-0 lead, which was spurred by a kill by junior Keeli Darlage and four serves by junior Riley Nuss.

Floyd Central came back to take the lead at 9-8, but after a timeout, the Braves regained momentum.

The teams stayed within two points of each other until the Braves built a 19-14 lead. After the Highlanders pulled within at 19-18, the Braves went on a 6-0 scoring streak — on serves by Riley Nuss — to win the second set 25-18. Braves junior Addie Wilkerson sealed the set with a block.

After battling through the opening eight points in the third set, the Highlanders used a pair of small runs to lead 13-8. They held onto the advantage, building it as large as 18-12 and 20-14, before taking five of the next seven points to take the set at 25-16.

In the fourth set, the Braves buckled in.

The teams stayed within three points, tying three times, before the Braves won seven straight points on serves by senior Madisen Polly to put the home team up 18-11.

Brownstown used a streak of five winning points to put themselves up 23-15 before a block by McCory and a hit by Wilkerson closed the set at 25-18.

“Not winning the third was disappointing, so we know we need to learn how to put teams away when we have those first two sets,” Braves coach Jennifer Shade said. “Volleyball is such a game of momentum that they could have crept back in. I told them they needed to go out and prove something. They needed to prove they were the best team. I thought we had a good start, had a little big of a lull, but got some fire back in us.”

Defense led to offense for the Braves on the night, Shade said.

“When our serve-receive is spot on and we can run our quicker offense, I feel like we can really get the ball down,” Shade said. “If serve-receive breaks down a little bit and we have to slow down our offense, it’s a little tougher for our hitters to get through the blocker and down on their court. Our focus is serve-receive, serve-receive, serve-receive. I felt like we did that in the first two (sets).”

Wilkerson led the Braves with 17 kills, while Darlage had 12 kills on 51 hitting attempts. As a team, the Braves went 122-for-145 (49 kills) on hitting.

Polly had five of the Braves’ eight total aces.

Shade said it was a nice win for her team, which has cruised through its first few matches of the season.

“We were ready to play a great team,” she said. “Now, we can see where we are at and what we need to work on in practice.”

The Braves will compete in the Bloomington South Invitational on Saturday.

They open pool play with Class 2A No. 3 Covenant Christian at 9 a.m.

Other teams in the Braves’ pool include Cardinal Ritter and Seymour. Pool A will feature Bloomington South, Trinity Lutheran, East Central and Silver Creek.

Crossover play will begin at 3 p.m. with the championship set for 4 p.m.