DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
Thursday night’s showdown between two of the very best volleyball teams in the area started with a battle of the freshmen at 5 p.m. and almost five hours later the Bellmont Braves were finally able to celebrate by taking the JV match in straight sets and the varsity contest in a thrilling display of fun volleyball, beating the South Adams Starfires 25-17, 30-28, 23-25, 25-14.
Bellmont fed the ball consistently to their ace, MaryKate Scheumann, who took 62 attempts across the four sets, and she delivered with a game-high 29 kills against jus five errors to lead the Braves to a meaningful win ahead of another trip to Yorktown this weekend for top-notch big-school competition.
The freshman contest was won by the Starfires in a game played in the main gym, 15-25, 25-23, 15-11, as Kennedy Bollenbacher led the ninth grade Stars with four aces.
In the JV matchup, Bellmont came back and scored a victory with a climactic victory in the second set 25-23 that set the tone for the varsity as the crowd had ample time to get pumped for a great contest.
Head coach Craig Krull went slightly deeper into his lineup in the four-set thriller, with junior Ashlynn Baumann playing three sets and scoring three kills and both Kaylee Kolter (5 kills) and Katie Reinhart (6) playing a bigger role than normal for the home team.
For South Adams, it was Reagan Bollenbacher leading the way with 13 kills and 25 digs. Avery Brown added 12 points of her own and the Stars leader in kills on the night was Reece Beitler with 15.
Both teams rotated setting duties, with Lilly Selking and Gracie Riggs each with a couple dozen assists, while the Stars had 27 from Reagan Beitler and 22 from Laney Trausch.
The Starfires stayed in the match early with a good service game, playing the first two sets without making a service error. Reece Beitler and GinaMarie Summersett each had a pair of aces.
The Braves head into Saturday at Yorktown with confidence after prevailing against their county rivals. They’ll take on four top-notch teams in best-of-three formats: Westfield, Crown Point, McCutcheon and Zionsville.
South Adams will take the holiday weekend off from competition before preparing for a week that will see them all three Wells County schools in succession of the course of eight days.
WZBD’s match of the week will actually be a doubleheader next week, with our microphones traveling to Heritage Tuesday to catch the Braves and Patriots. 92.7 FM will also cover the Braves at Carroll (FW) on September 6th.
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