DANE FUELLING & MIKE MACKE
WZBD.com
The Bellmont Braves may have eliminated NorthWood in each of the past four volleyball seasons, but the never-say-never Panthers forced their way to set point in the second set Saturday at Huntington North and were asking all kinds of questions of the Bellmont Braves, needing just one point to knot the match at one set apiece.
MK Scheumann was having none of it. Her kill ended the second set in the Braves’ favor and inaugurated the team as northern semi-state champs again in 3A. The Braves defeated the Panthers in three straight sets 25 – 12, 24 – 26, and 25 – 15.
Northwood scored the first point of the match, but Bellmont responded with six straight points behind the strong serving of Sami Christen, who picked up two aces in the run.
The Braves used good passing and a diverse offense to run out to a 13 – 3 lead and the first set was never in doubt. Mary Kate Scheumann had six kills in that first set. Delaney Lawson, Alyssa Gumbel and Hailey Cole had three each as Bellmont got the start they wanted, winning 25 – 12.
Bellmont started strong in set #2, as well, getting out to a 4 – 1 lead. They stretched it out to 15 – 7 when Northwood started fighting back. At 20 – 12, the Lady Panthers went on a ten point run to catch the Braves and take the lead at 22 – 20.
The run included some excellent blocking by Northwood including a couple of block kills by Claire Payne. An ace serve and some uncharacteristic hitting errors by the Braves contributed as well.
Coach Craig Krull used two time outs during the run to try to stop the momentum and the second succeeded as Lawson hammered one down to stop the bleeding. Gumbel picked up a kill and the set was tied at 22.
Northwood kept up the pressure and served for the match at 24 – 23. A Scheumann kill tied it up and the Braves scored two more, the last on the fateful and aforementioned MK Scheumann kill to take the second set 26 – 24.
The third set was all Bellmont as they were able to get on top early again at 12 – 3. Northwood made one last push and got it to 20 – 12, but the Braves controlled the action the rest of the way to take the deciding set at 25 – 15.
In the third set, Lawson picked up five kills and Jackie Sutter notched four kills, two of them on blocks. Cole was outstanding in distributing the ball and Christen led a strong defensive effort.
The Lady Panthers finished the year 32 – 5, while Bellmont moved to 35 – 2.
It will be #1 vs. #2 as the Braves will take on Clarksville Providence for the second year in a row at Worthen Arena for the State Championship next Saturday.
Follow WZBD all week long for coverage of the volleyball State Finals and tune in Saturday to 92.7 FM for the match!