DEAN JACKSON
WZBD.com
HUNTERTOWN — After enjoying early season success Heritage returned to reality facing No. 1 Carroll.
The Patriots (5-1) dropped its first match of the season on Tuesday, falling in straight sets, 25-15, 25-17 and 25-16.
The Carroll volleyball program has put together a 59-match win streak dating back to the 2024 season, a multi-year run featuring back-to-back IHSAA Class 4A State Championships.
Despite the loss, Heritage’s back row kept the Patriots competitive throughout the match. Kierstyn Hess led all players with 12 digs, committing just a single digging error in the process, a performance that anchored the Patriots’ back row from start to finish.
Mallory Ehrman was right behind her with 11 digs, the most of any player on the floor, though she also worked through five digging errors as she covered significant ground defensively. Insley Dommer added 10 digs of her own, giving Heritage three players in double figures defensively despite the result.
The match also saw a notable in-game adjustment. Kinley Galentine went down during the second set, and freshman Brinley Girardot stepped in, finishing with six digs, though she was charged with five errors as she adjusted to the moment under match pressure. Maya Ehrman added six digs with two errors, Grace Scheumann logged two digging errors in her floor time, Elena Lybarger chipped in three digs, and Audra Bickel rounded out the defensive stat sheet with one dig.
The scoreline suggests a clean sweep, but the match stayed physical, with both teams fighting through extended rallies before Carroll closed out each set.
“I felt like our girls never got down,” Heritage head coach Shelly Schwartz said. “They just kept fighting and fighting and fighting.”
Schwartz said the difference came down to a handful of plays and a stretch of unforced errors late in sets.
“Carroll just made a few more plays than what we did, and down the stretch we strung too many errors together,” Schwartz said. “But I thought the girls played well.”
She credited Carroll’s discipline on the other side of the net.
“They didn’t make very many [mistakes] at all,” Schwartz said. “If you hang with Carroll, you’re going to have a good season.”
Schwartz framed the loss as part of a longer process rather than a season-defining setback, pointing to a measuring-stick match early in the year against one of the state’s top programs.
“I don’t know how many games into the season you are, but three weeks into the season, you keep swinging,” Schwartz said. “Seven weeks into the season, you’re a much different team.”
That development shows up in practice as much as it does on the scoreboard. Schwartz said Heritage works its hitters at multiple net heights during the week, alternating between a lower net, a higher net and a regulation net, a method she said helps her players develop their vertical jump by forcing them to attack the ball on a straight, upward path rather than relying on angle alone.
Carroll, for its part, improved to 9-0 with the win. The Chargers enter this season as the defending Class 4A state champion, having finished last season undefeated at 36-0, sweeping Plainfield in the title match. Heritage, which competes in Class 3A, took a run at a 4A program still riding the momentum of a state championship season before falling in three.
Heritage will now look to regroup and get back in the win column as it continues through its schedule. They’ll face a very good Concordia team at home on Thursday. Both teams are in the Top 16 of the state volleyball association’s Z Ratings in 3A at this point in the season.
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