FORT WAYNE — The Indiana high school volleyball season officially got underway Saturday.
I was in Fort Wayne for a three-team season-opening event featuring two-time defending Class 4A state champion Carroll, state runner-up Plainfield and regional champion Westfield. I wrote about the nationally ranked Chargers here.
Now let’s finish emptying the notebook from Saturday.
Westfield
The best part of Saturday: There were no stakes for any of the teams involved, just an opportunity to see where they stand and what they need to clean up, while competing against a couple of the state’s other top teams.
It was a mixed bag for Westfield, which dominated in stretches in a four-set win over Plainfield, then started strong vs. Carroll, but was quickly overwhelmed and lost in three.
Westfield coach Sean Keeve said he was “really, really happy with a lot of the things” his team did on its side of the net, but noted there were also things they know they need to clean up.
“At the end of the day, we probably didn’t give ourselves the best opportunity to be as competitive as we wanted to be against Carroll,” he continued. “That stuff’s going to work itself out. But opening day, opening weekend — it’s good that it happened now and not later.”
Some individual standouts for the Rocks…
∎ Sophomore defensive specialist Gabby Bassett started in place of injured 2028 South Carolina commit Brooke Neale (knee) and performed brilliantly, totaling 10 digs and three aces in seven sets. She also logged 40 receptions with zero errors.
Keeve thought Bassett handled herself “really well,” adding: “She doesn’t play like a sophomore. She plays and acts like an upperclassman and I love that. She has a lot of swagger to her.”
Neale is dealing with some knee soreness, according to Keeve. They hope to have her back on the court soon, but don’t want to rush anything and leave her susceptible to setbacks.
∎ Surprise, surprise Louisville-bound senior Carsyn Comer showed out Saturday, putting down 17 kills on .387 hitting and totaling 10 blocks (six solo). The 6-3 middle can attack in so many different ways — I thought this kill against Carroll was particularly impressive — and her presence on the block is tough for teams to navigate.
Comer can “do anything and everything,” Keeve said. Now it’s up to him and his staff to “get more creative” as teams get better at defending Comer in front of the setter.
Westfield is always in a three-hitter phase, making it difficult to get Comer behind the setter unless they’re inside-out, Keeve observed. He credited setter Emily Blevins with doing a good job late in the Carroll match of working Comer behind on the C-set.
Added Keeve: “And who knows, maybe we’ll have Carsyn hit at the pin every now and then just to mix things up.”
∎ Senior outside Paige Rudolph was exceptional. She matched Comer with her 17 kills on the day and logged 19 digs, tied with Blevins for second-most behind libero Kendyl Strack.
Rudolph played primarily on the right side last season — “She’s a heck of an RS,” Keeve said — but they want her on the outside and to be comfortable with being fed the ball as their go-to attacker.
“More than anything from her, I want her to know how good she is,” Keeve said. “Every time she has an opportunity to terminate and just own it. She’s going to make mistakes, maybe wail on a ball every now and then, but man, she can hit the heck out of it and she’s going to do a lot of damage for us this year. I’m excited.”
Westfield tests itself vs. another of the state’s top teams, Yorktown, on Monday.
Plainfield
Talent-wise, the Quakers are better than they were last year with the majority of their lineup returning and considering the development of their key contributors over the summer.
But they also added a couple transfers and are re-learning to play together and to effectively communicate as players shuffle positions.
“We moved some people around just in different positions, different hitters going different places, just to have a different look,” said coach Lori Pax, who’s also down a hitter due to injury. “We will be making adjustments until we can figure out who we like where. It may take us a little bit to get our footing and figure out where we’re going to put everybody.”
An in-game lineup change that clicked: Moving Marley VanWanzeele from the middle to outside following the opening set vs. Westfield. Following a lopsided opener, the attack functioned more smoothly in the second. For her part, VanWanzeele finished with nine kills vs. Westfield and 18 for the day.
Pax said VanWanzeele’s positioning this season will depend a lot on the matchup and who’s playing well, but they do like the senior Northern Illinois commit on the pin, because she sets a good block.
With VanWanzeele on the outside, DeAsia ‘DD’ John moved to the middle and Harper Gentry replaced her on the right.
A couple other individual standouts for the Rocks…
∎ John, a Pike transfer, totaled 13 kills in her first seven sets as a Quaker, including seven against Westfield. She had a couple big swings in both matches, and Pax is very excited for what she brings to the lineup.
“DD was a big, big person for us today and I think she’s going to continue to evolve and be more involved with our offense,” Pax said. “We haven’t had her very long, (but) the more she’s with us and the more we can figure out where we’re going to place her … she’s going to find her stride.”
∎ And then there’s Audrey Utterback. She almost single-handedly kept them in it at points against both Westfield and Carroll, with her swings from the back row particularly impactful.
The 2028 UCLA commit finished the day with 35 kills — 24 of which came against Westfield (.232 hit%) — 19 digs and four aces.
“Audrey is just a baller,” Pax said. “She has that mental part of the game where she knows if she needs to turn it on, she’s prepared to turn it on. And I think over time, we’ll have a couple people who will turn it on, too.”
Plainfield will have ample opportunity to secure its first wins of the season this week with matches against Cascade, Whiteland and Northview, followed by a weekend event involving Fishers and Greenwood.
Around the area
A quick whiparound…
∎ Lawrence North had a nice showing in Evansville, finishing 2-1 with wins over defending 1A state champion Trinity Lutheran and Evansville Mater Dei, and a five-set loss to Providence. Amya Zander and Ragan Ward combined for 78 kills in 12 sets.
∎ Cathedral bounced back from a season-opening loss to West Lafayette Harrison with wins over Illiana Christian, North Central and Brownsburg. It will play the Bulldogs again later this week, then travel to Center Grove on Aug. 25.
∎ Brownsburg (1-3) plays one match between Saturday and Aug. 24: A Wednesday night showdown with Cathedral. Plainfield and Hamilton Southeastern are scheduled for Aug. 26 and 27, respectively.
∎ Lawrence Central (3-0) and Southport (4-0) are both off to perfect starts. The Bears collected 2-0 sweeps of Christel House, Mooresville and Greenwood, while the Cardinals swept Borden, Scottsburg, Salem and Mitchell.
∎ Carmel scored Kati Weir her first win as head coach Saturday, sweeping Warren Central, 3-0 (25-8, 25-20, 25-9). The Hounds have a daunting three-match stretch upcoming: Hamilton Southeastern, Roncalli and Hamilton Heights.
Milestones
∎ Tri-West libero Finley Dakin recorded her 1,000th career dig Saturday. The Bruins went 2-1, beating Castle and Evansville Mater Dei before losing to Providence.
∎ Franklin Central setter Emily Williams cleared 2,000 career assists in a four-set loss to Roncalli.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What we learned about Westfield and Plainfield volleyball in Fort Wayne
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
