MARTINSVILLE — There was victory, even in defeat.
The first-year Bloomington North volleyball team wasn’t afraid to dream big and nearly, nearly made it come true, no matter how improbable it might have seemed at first.
It was an epic final day at the Martinsville Sectional on Saturday, May 16. There were 14 sets played over three matches to determine a winner as Evansville Memorial outlasted the field for its first title.
First the Tigers rallied down two sets to beat the host Artesians in five. They then had to turn away a Cougar squad that was dead serious about competing for the title in its sectional debut. The Tigers were just a tad cleaner, and bigs Max Aslinger and Luke Dockrey were just a bit too much in an edge-of-your-seat 25-23, 25-23, 12-25, 25-22 win in the final.
“At the beginning of the season, (we were asked) what our goals were,” North setter Coen Berin said, “and we said, ‘Beat South and win sectionals.’ We kept that mentality the whole season.”
For senior outside Chris Estivill-Kilmer the transformation from that first open gym to now was a fun trip.
“Just how much everyone got better,” senior outside Chris Estivill-Kilmer said. “And how much everyone really became friends.”
And also how well the Cougars withstood the pressure of it’s first final.
“It was awesome,” Estivill-Kilmer said. “It was nervous excitement the whole time.”
All eight who played, including five seniors, contributed in the final.
“As a manager for the girls volleyball team, I’ve been to sectionals and I kind of know the feelings around it,” Berin said. “But it’s a totally different experience being on the court and having your season on the line.
“But I think the team really rallied together today. That was one of our goals was to rally together, lean on each other, play together. And I think we did a really good job of that today.”
Memorial won six of its last seven sets, none of them by more than four points.
Long day, tough finish
North had it’s own chore in the semifinals, having to gather itself to pull out a 25-10, 25-13, 14-25, 21-25, 16-14 win over Evansville Reitz. It was a tough day, mentally and physically.
“That’s all we were talking about (in the locker room) is how proud we were,” North coach Charles Cook said. “We made history bringing a first-year program to a sectional finals, and we really competed.
“Evansville Memorial, I feel like they had a little bit of a chip on their shoulders because we beat them at home, and they wanted to come out and play tough.”
It was tough for either team to make many runs throughout the match. The first two sets were both tied 23-23 with the Tigers scoring the last two points of each. The second set was a tougher one to swallow as North led 19-15 before giving up a 7-0 run and then having to fight back.
“The first two, we weren’t getting a lot of our passes up to the net,” Cook said. “One of the things we focus on a lot is passing and serving, because that’s where the points start.
“We were just off just a little bit and couldn’t run our offense like we wanted to, and they were getting some good block touches because of it. That was really the big difference there, but it was close, man. All the games today. I think the boys left it all out there.”
It looked as if North had found something or the Tigers’ legs might be giving out in Set 3.
“We played out clean version of BHSN boys volleyball,” Cook said. “On the sideline, I was coming to tears with how good these kids were.”
Said Estivill-Kilmer, “The first two sets, we were all nervous. The third set, no one really cared, so we started swinging at every ball. And it ended up working out nicely.”
Set 4 went back to the way it was, six ties before Memorial went up 14-10. North stormed back to go up 17-16. It was tied at 19 and 20 before Memorial got two kills from Dockrey to go up 23-20 and hold on.
“Really good competitive volleyball,” Cook said.
‘We played our absolute best’
North kept up its competitive level of play over nine sets in eight hours.
“It’s drive, 100%,” Cook said. “We have tennis players on the team, and one of our things early on was, ‘Vamos! Let’s go!’ It was one of the things that we instilled in our culture. And they brought it.”
It’s over, but there was little to not smile about.
“The improvement has been so apparent, especially in the postseason and these sectional games,” Berin said. “We played the absolute best volleyball that we’ve played all season. And we put a lot of work into our practices all season, and it really showed out today, even though it was not exactly the outcome that we wanted.
“I’m just so proud of everyone and the work they put in.”
Cook pulled out some old photos a few days ago of the first days of practice.
“What a way we’ve come,” he said. “To compete for a sectional title, there’s nothing better than that.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: ‘We made history’ Bloomington North boys volleyball falls in sectional final
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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