By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
GREENWOOD – It didn’t take long for the fireworks to start this volleyball season. Center Grove and Avon, two of Central Indiana’s highly ranked Class 4A teams, squared off Aug. 18 on the Trojans’ home court in opening night-action.
The moral of the story on this night? Experience is a very valuable thing.
Fifth-ranked Center Grove boasts eight seniors on the roster, and most are critical to the Trojan effort. Meanwhile, No. 10 Avon has just five final-year players and lined up for the first time in a long time without departed Miss Everything Katie Griffin.
The result was a three-game sweep for the hosts, 25-19, 25-18, and 27-25. That one-sided result came in direct contrast to last year’s season-opening joust between these two that went four games, including a 30-28 final-game advantage for victorious Avon.
One of the many things that experience produces is consistency. The simple fact is, on this night, Center Grove had longer stretches of consistent play than did the young Orioles.
That was especially true in the Trojans’ defensive effort. Their back-line defense was exceptional most of the evening as a trio of seniors – Sarah Dooms, Ariel Knafel, and Adria Pryor – combined for 22 digs.
The leader of the pack was Dooms, who had nine of the digs and added a whopping 15 kills. After the match, she attributed the great defense to chemistry that has been built up over four years.
(Dooms’ comments, in addition to those of Center Grove coach Deb McClurg, can be seen in the video player on this page!)
Don’t feel too sorry for Avon, however. Coach Scott McQueen’s young Orioles learned very quickly. After falling behind early in each of the first two games, they battled point for point throughout Game 3.
The key to that effort was a net attack that improved drastically as the match wore on.
It will not take long for these two rivals to get reacquainted as they will meet again this weekend in the Center Grove Invitational. Powerful Roncalli (ranked fifth in Class 3A) is also in that field, so stay tuned to HoosierAuthority.com for that score and more!
