DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
KINGSLAND – It had everything.
From a massive crowd to huge momentum swings, from anticipation to worry, from ecstasy to heartbreak, Saturday morning’s showdown between Bellmont and Angola included individual matchups, team adjustments and plenty of attitude and personality from both head coaches.
When it was all said and done, the Bellmont Braves deserved the victory they claimed with a 15-11 victory in the fifth and deciding set.
Few matches in recent memory have garnered as much hype and anticipation as what this one did, with the IHSAA’s ridiculous ticketing system forcing people to wait in a line that stretched the length of the outdoor courtyard at Norwell and into the parking lot to get in. Bellmont, aided by a much closer proximity than the Hornets, brought in a huge crowd, filling the assigned section for Braves fans and then some.
The atmosphere prior to the first point was full of confidence and excitement and not a single person in attendance walked out of the gym three hours later wishing they hadn’t charged their credit card $15 to get in.
Bellmont began the match with could honestly be considered two of the best sets of volleyball the program has ever played. With nearly every former head coach the program has ever had in attendance, from Kent Arnold on the headset for WZBD to Phyllis Hebble in the stands, Bellmont fed off of the crowd and some early big hits and demolished Angola, creating some of the most exhilarating moments in recent memory across any sport for the Braves.
The 25-11 capitulation by Angola in the second set was as impressive of an accomplishment for the Braves was as one could have imagined.
Angola, however, dug deep and the service errors that plagued their efforts in the first set suddenly disappeared and the two teams played as equals. The Hornets seized the early lead and, with it, the momentum in the match. Despite an impassioned speech ahead of the set to put the opponents away, coach Craig Krull’s team looked helpless to stop Morgan Gaerte and Co. in a third set that they ultimately took 25-14.
There was no doubt that many in the crowd, and perhaps on the Bellmont bench, began to think about the heartache they might feel on U.S. 224 in an hour’s time if the Braves were to blow a 2-0 lead and end their season, but Angola was simply dynamite to start the third set and they built another lead in the fourth set, but perhaps more key to than anything else in this match was the way Bellmont played to end the fourth set.
While the Braves ultimately dropped the third set and never led, the effort and the confidence they gained by clawing all the way back to 24-24 certainly made a difference in the tone of the start of the fifth set.
It was evident early on in the decisive fifth that Bellmont was not going to make the mistakes to lose the match and that they had been ready to go five sets all along. Perhaps more than even their own crowd, the Braves’ rotation did not sweat dropping sets three and four. They simply persevered.
The epic match ended with a very fitting, if not poetic, bounce off the basketball hoop on the final point. The inadequate facility in which Bellmont and Angola were forced to play such a momentous match did not ultimately detract from what was a beautiful display of high school sports at its very finest.
Statistically, Bellmont ran much of their offense through MK Scheumann. The sophomore made 48 attempts in the marathon match and led the team with 19 kills.
Gaerte, as expected, led Angola with 20 kills, but they came on 59 attempts. Bellmont did their best to neutralize the Hornets’ star and finished the game with six total blocks.
For all the talk about how deadly the Angola service game was, it was the preparation by coach Krull and his staff that may have ultimately made the biggest difference. Angola made more than twice as many service errors as Bellmont did and for all the talk of aces, there were just three for the losing side across five sets. Bellmont, on the other hand, blitzed Angola for 11.
Jackie Sutter was another key in the Bellmont victory with her 16 kills and seven digs.
Hailey Cole finished with 42 assists.
Sami Christen led the Braves with 29 digs, more than any other player on either side.
The next time these two sides meet, they may very well be playing in different IHSAA classes and with a combined nine seniors playing all five sets for both teams, the lineups will look much different.
For everyone who was in attendance, they will surely hope that there are more games like this one in the near future.
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