{"id":26536,"date":"2025-05-19T09:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=26536"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:03:11","slug":"heritage-season-comes-to-end-in-five-set-heartbreaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/heritage-season-comes-to-end-in-five-set-heartbreaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Heritage season comes to end in five-set heartbreaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By DEAN JACKSON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FORT WAYNE —\u00a0There is little history or tradition of IHSAA boys\u2019 volleyball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No great storylines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players are still making their mark to become legendary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Heritage bench reacts to a big kill by the Patriots. (Photo by Dean Jackson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are no intense rivalries just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heritage and Homestead made a strong case for that Saturday with a fitting introduction to postseason lore in a five-set thriller at the South Side Sectional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud to sponsor coverage of Heritage athletics on WZBD.com! Check us out for all your custom woodworking needs!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The contest felt more like the climax of a well-established rivalry than the opening chapter of a new tournament era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Homestead Spartans have eliminated Heritage in the last two state tournaments after they won a five-set thriller in Saturday’s final at South Side. (Photo by Dean Jackson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the last swing landed in Homestead\u2019s favor. The Spartans secured the sectional championship with a dramatic 3-2 victory (23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 15-13), a testament to persistence under pressure rather than overwhelming control. No rally felt decisive, no lead ever safe\u2014it fits every definition and clich\u00e9 of an epic clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homestead held a 14-10 lead in the decisive fifth set, seemingly on the verge of claiming victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ball dropped\u2014a premature celebration ensued. Then came the whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud to sponsor Heritage Athletics on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The net violation call electrified the crowd and emboldened the Patriots with new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat kind of emotional shift takes an incredible amount of focus to keep playing through,\u201d said Abby Tigulis, Heritage coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heritage (16-5) locked in defensively, bracing for one final push from Homestead (29-5). At the center of that charge was Zeke Litchfield. They knew where the ball was going. They adjusted their positioning. But Litchfield didn\u2019t flinch under the weight of expectation\u2014he embraced it, delivering in the toughest moments as Heritage fought to keep their championship hopes alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eli Tigulis sets Graham Simmons up for the kill during Saturday’s match against Homestead. (Photo by Dean Jackson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“They knew the ball was going to Zeke because Zeke is very, very good,” Tigulis said. \u201cBut the rest of the team stepped up, played defense, and made every play count.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zeke Litchfield skies over the net for a kill against Homestead. (Photo by Dean Jackson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heritage, chipping away at the deficit, managed to stretch the match through multiple match points; neither team was willing to yield. With each rally came the possibility that Homestead might finally put it away\u2014or that Heritage might claw its way back into contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don\u2019t practice being down by that much, but we practice playing from behind. It just speaks to the grit and perseverance these kids have. They are phenomenal volleyball players\u2014and even better humans,” Tigulis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we could not be prouder. No one expected us to fight the way we did. This team gave everything they had, and occasionally, that\u2019s just how volleyball goes,\u201d Tigulis added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud to sponsor Heritage athletes and teams on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brady Henline had 15 kills to lead the Spartans, while Aaron Demars had 14 and Eli Hallman 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No stats were provided by Heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Patriots advanced to the final with a dominating win over the Bellmont Braves, 25-15, 25-8, 25-6. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homestead will face Carroll (26-7) on Saturday in the regional semifinal at Peru.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By DEAN JACKSON WZBD.com FORT WAYNE —\u00a0There is little history or tradition of IHSAA boys\u2019 volleyball. No great<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,15,51,26,55],"class_list":["post-26536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bellmont","tag-featured","tag-heritage","tag-sports","tag-volleyball"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_1455-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26542,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536\/revisions\/26542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}