Bloomington North’s boys volleyball team got tattooed Monday night.
No, wait, that was just their head coach, who promised to get the ink job should his squad take down South in the first-ever meeting between the two young programs at Indiana University’s Wilkinson Hall.
Senior Gavin Hodgson had plenty on the line, too. No wonder he and his North teammates came out so hot and were just a bit too much in 25-13, 25-17, 25-22 victory and a most unusual rivalry moment for son against father, Justin, who coaches South.
It was the first best-of-five match win for North (3-4, 1-1 Conference Indiana) with big consequences. It forces North coach Charles Cook to add to his collection of tattoos and South’s coach to take a rare ‘L’ against his oldest boy.
“Honestly, it’s kind of familiar,” Gavin said. “I live in a very competitive household so being competitive is not anything unique. But this is definitely way higher stakes than backyard volleyball or Monopoly.
“But it feels great to beat him. But his team played great, so props to them.”
Naturally, Justin Hodgson is ready for a rematch.
“He said he was going to win, and he won,” Justin allowed.
A return match at North in May could happen, as could a third meeting depending on how the sectionals shape up. But for now, maroon and gold carried the day.
“A lot of what we teach is based on positivity,” North coach Charles Cook said. “We’re the loudest bunch in the house. We try to stay that way, because we want to be as loud as possible in hyping up our guys.”
They had plenty to cheer about on a special night made possible by IU and head women’s volleyball coach Steve Aird, who worked out the use of his home court.
“It’s insane,” Gavin Hodgson said. “That was a great game. We really started out all right, but it was a little closer there at the end than I would have liked it to be. But they all played great. Our team rallied together and took down the Panthers.
“This is huge, It’s showing just how explosive, how powerful, how fun volleyball can be. Some of the boys I coach were here today.”
North had some built-in advantages with senior setters Gavin and Coen Berin as long-time active club players, something South doesn’t have this season. The Panthers (0-7, 0-2) were also without starting senior setter John Ward due to illness that’s hit the team over the past week.
“It’s a great venue, a great experience here for them in front of a great crowd,’ Justin Hodgson said. “Obviously, we’d have liked to win, especially for my own personal sake. Again, it’s just tough having to throw a new setter in on the fly.
“But I thought they played really well a lot times. But then we’d have those two or three points where it got away. Hopefully they’ll learn from this and we’ll get better for the next round.”
Mills takes on a new sport
North senior Ramsey Mills, a long time tennis player, has taken a few of those skills with him to his new sport. He had some friends try out, so he did, too and is having a ball making new friends while he’s at it.
“It is insanely fun to play a new sport and have a lot of new beginnings and hit a different kind of ball,” Mills said. “This sport is a lot different than tennis. I can scream so much more, which they got mad at me for in tennis.”
Mills was able to convert his overhand shot from tennis into swings at the net and also from the service line.
“You can’t teach 6-4,” Cook said. “Our presence at the net was really good and we had a lot of serve pressure, too.”
And just as his height was an asset in doubles for the Cougars and he and Riley Thackery, the other middle, made a big difference in North’s ability to put balls away at the net. That’s something South struggled with.
“It’s tough when you can’t put points on the board and you’re just hoping for points,” Justin Hodgson said. “It makes it harder. So without our normal setter, it’s a little off, so it’s harder to get those timing balls in place.
“They have two good setters over there, they’ve been playing club for a while and know what they’re doing. We were right there in game, but execution-wise, we were off and they were not. And we kept serving it to No. 15 (Gavin) and that’s the one kid we’re not supposed to serve it to.”
Quick start carries Cougars
North came out swinging, taking leads of 9-2, 16-5 and 20-6 before an ace by Berin finished off the first set.
South got off to a better starting scoring wise in Set 2, going up 9-5 without a kill as North had trouble keeping attacks inbounds. But Mills and Thackery got going. North tied it at 15 then pulled ahead, scoring nine of the next 10 points.
Set 3, North went up 5-0. South tied it at 5. North went up 10-5. South tied it at 10. North led 20-16 and 23-19 and each time, South closed the gap to one but never took the lead as the Cougars held on for the sweep.
“They’re a resilient bunch,” Justin Hodgon said. “That first set, they got boat-raced a little bit, a little overwhelmed by the moment. But they fight back. We’re close in a lot of these games. We hang in within two or three points but we haven’t figured out how to close out a game yet.
“But we’ll get back in practice and work on the reps and hopefully we can get over that hump as some point. We’ve got games this week against Terre Haute North and a tournament at New Albany.”
And maybe a rematch.
“I want to play them again,” Justin said. “That’s a good group to play. That’s the kind of volleyball we want to be playing, right? They move the ball well, they serve well, they attack well. They’ve got two middles who really control the net.
“We’re not quite there yet. Our two middles, it’s the first year they’re playing.”
The first-year Cougars are gaining confidence by the day. Cook is stunned at how quickly they’ve caught on and continue to improve.
“With this at our back we’ve got three games in the next next five days,” he said. “It’s crazy that this was the test of all that ,but it just makes me more excited the games to come.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Son tops father as North prevails in Bloomington boys volleyball battle
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
