It was the Braves versus the Braves Monday night at Bellmont High School and the home Braves dug out seemingly every attempt the Blackhawk Christian Braves made, winning in straight sets and moving to 11-0 in 2023 with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-17 victory.
Delaney Lawson and MaryKate Scheumann were lethal, taking advantage of plenty of kill opportunities and leading the Braves with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. The two big hitters made 59 attack attempts in the three sets together.
Bellmont dominated in the opening sets, playing off their early season run and keeping the home crowd behind them. It was much of the same in the second set, but in the third, the Blackhawk Braves showed glimpses of what made them so dangerous in 2022. They led early in the set and again at 9-7 before the Bellmont offense got going, with four different kills from four different players (Lawson, Sutter, Scheumann, Cole) in a matter of five points.
The Braves finally found the lead at 15-14 and Hailey Cole forced a Blackhawk time out with a push kill deep into the corner, where there was not a blue shirt in sight.
Cole repeated her strategy, but this time in the very center of the court for a 19-16 lead and then she set up Jackie Sutter with a perfect pass to put the Braves five points from victory.
The battle of two defending semi-state champions ended with Blackhawk making three straight errors to give the home team the victory.
Jackie Sutter, who will celebrate her 18th birthday Tuesday with a match against rival Heritage, her dad’s alma mater, had seven kills and 11 digs to go with a team-high three aces.
Sami Christen led the Braves’ defense with 21 digs.
The dynamic Cole had six kills in her role as attacker, 34 assists as setter, and 12 digs as all-out athlete.
The Braves were absolutely dominated by senior-laden Heritage last season at home, losing 25-16, 25-16, 25-23. That loss served as a bit of an eye opener for coach Krull’s team. He knows that his team will need to be ready, but he admits that the busy early-season schedule has not allowed much time to focus on individual opponents.
“We have just focused on our own play,” noted Krull after the win on his team’s upcoming slate.
“You don’t really get time to focus on opponents, but what’s nice about Heritage is everyone knows everyone and we have to outplay what we are expected to do. We know who to watch for when it comes to their team.”
“Take it one match, one day at a time.”
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