Volleyball draw: While Southwood looms later, Lady Zs seek to beat Wabash again

Valley, Winamac receive byes; Caston draws DeMotte Christian; Pioneer to face N. White; Culver gets rival Triton; Argos to meet N. Judson

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester volleyball team won at Wabash last week in five sets.

Now they will get another chance to beat them in the sectional.

That was among the revelations of the IHSAA volleyball draw Sunday.

In addition, Tippecanoe Valley and Winamac received byes, Culver and Argos drew Hoosier North rivals, and Pioneer and Caston could meet in the sectional final.

Here is a closer look:

Rochester

The Lady Zs lost to Wabash in four sets in both the 2024 regular season and 2024 sectional, but they beat Wabash 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 22-25, 15-10 last week at Coolman Gymnasium. Now they will return to Coolman to face the host Lady Apaches in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 quarterfinal Oct. 16.

Bryleigh Boggs had 30 kills in that first match against Rochester, and she already has over 400 for the season and over 1,300 for her career.

The Wabash-Rochester winner will take on the Lewis Cass-Oak Hill winner in the semifinals. Oak Hill is 19-8 and swept Lewis Cass in three sets in their regular season meeting Tuesday. Oak Hill currently leads the Central Indiana Conference with a 6-0 record. Oak Hill also beat Rochester in the ninth-place match at the Tomahawk Invitational at North Miami Aug. 23; on the other hand, Oak Hill has lost to Wabash twice.

In the other half of the bracket, Manchester will play Southwood in the quarterfinal Oct. 14, and the winner will play Eastern (Greentown), who received a bye, in the semifinals.

Southwood is the four-time defending sectional champion and three-time defending regional champion. They are 22-2 and in the midst of a 20-match winning streak. They are ranked No. 2 in this week’s Class 2A IndianaPrepVolleyball.com ratings.

Tippecanoe Valley

Valley drew a bye and will play the winner of the West Noble-Fairfield match in the Class 3A, Sectional 20 semifinals at Wawasee Oct. 18.

That means they will have a 10-day layoff between their regular season finale at Manchester Wednesday and their postseason opener.

West Noble is currently ranked No. 5, and they sport a 23-2 record. One of their wins was a 25-17, 25-14, 25-14 win at Valley Sept. 13. West Noble’s only losses are to Class 4A Northern Lakes Conference powers Northridge and Warsaw.

Fairfield is 11-13.

In the other half of the draw, Wawasee received a bye and will await the Columbia City-NorthWood winner. NorthWood is the six-time defending sectional champion and the three-time defending regional champion, but they lost in four sets to West Noble Sept. 16.

Caston, Pioneer

Pioneer, who plowed through the Hoosier North with a perfect 8-0 record, will host Class 1A, Sectional 50 and will take on North White at 6 p.m. Oct. 14 in a quarterfinal.

Pioneer is 17-12 and had won five in a row prior to a three-set loss at Benton Central Tuesday.

A quarterfinal between Tri-County and North Newton will follow the Pioneer-North White match, and the winners will meet in the semifinals Oct. 18. Pioneer does not play North White, Tri-County or North Newton during the regular season. 

Tri-County is 16-9 and swept North Newton in three sets Thursday.

In the other half of the bracket, the DeMotte Christian-Caston winner Oct. 16 will play the West Central-South Newton winner in the semifinals.

DeMotte Christian beat Caston 25-19, 25-22 in a tournament at Tri-County Aug. 30 in their earlier meeting. Caston is 6-22 under first-year coach DeLonna Logan.

DeMotte Christian is 9-17. They started 1-8 but have gone 8-9 since.

South Newton, the defending regional champion, is 16-10 and owns a five-set win over West Central in conference play. They also own two wins each over DeMotte Christian, Tri-County and North White and a win over North Newton.

Argos, Culver

Last year, Culver warded off a Triton match point in the fifth set to win 18-16 and take their first sectional title in 13 years.

This year, they will meet right off the bat in a Class 1A, Sectional 51 quarterfinal at South Central (Union Mills) Oct. 14. Triton beat Culver in three sets at Triton Sept. 4 in their Hoosier North meeting, but Culver beat Triton 25-18, 25-20 in a tournament at Triton Sept. 13.

The ending of the trilogy could depend whether Culver could put an effective block on the Triton 1-2 duo of Avery Viers and Sierra Hawley, who combined for 38 kills in their first meeting against Culver but only 15 in the second meeting.

The Triton-Culver winner will face Oregon-Davis, who received a bye, in the semifinals. O-D is 5-17, and that includes an 0-3 combined record against Culver and Triton.

In the other half of the bracket, the North Judson-Argos winner will take on the South Central-Elkhart Christian winner in the semifinals with those two matches scheduled for Oct. 16.

Argos has not won a sectional title since 1973 and not won a sectional match since 2002. Argos lost 25-13, 25-15, 25-19 at North Judson Sept. 4 in their regular season meeting.

South Central lost in five sets to Elkhart Christian during the regular season, but they have a four-set win over North Judson.

Winamac

Winamac received a bye and will take on the Bremen-LaVille winner in a Class 2A, Sectional 34 semifinal at Bremen Oct. 18. 

Winamac is 7-19 after going 2-1 and winning the Attica Invitational Saturday. They do not play either Bremen or LaVille during the regular season.

Bremen is 21-8 and beat LaVille in three sets during their Indiana Northern State Conference meeting. LaVille did not get more than 12 points in any of the three sets.

Meanwhile, Knox will square off against Jimtown in the quarterfinal in the other half of the draw with the winner to face South Bend Career Academy.

Jimtown is the defending sectional champion – it was their first sectional title in school history – but have faded to 11-17 this year. They have two wins over Knox but two losses to Bremen.

The tournament

Sectionals are set for Oct. 14-18, regionals are Oct. 25, semistates are Nov. 1, and the state finals are set for Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Nov. 8.

Rochester and Peru are among the eight semistate sites. The IHSAA will determine which venue will host which class for the semistates after the regionals are over.

Sectional tickets are $8 per session or $20 for an all-sectional ticket. Regional tickets are $10 per session covering two regional matches. Semistate tickets are $12 per session, and state finals tickets are $20.

Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be hosting the state finals for the first time, ending an 18-year run at Worthen Arena on the Ball State campus in Muncie.