By RICHIE HALL
ZIONSVILLE – The Westfield volleyball team broke a nine-year drought on Saturday, Oct. 18 by winning the Class 4A Sectional 8 championship at Zionsville.
The No. 2-ranked Shamrocks swept a tough Carmel team 25-9, 25-18, 26-24 in the title match, overcoming a set point in the third set by winning the final three points of the match. Westfield won its first sectional trophy since 2016 and improved to 25-1 for the season.
Just to reach the final, the Rocks had to get past the only team that had beaten them this year: Hamilton Southeastern. The two teams played each other in the first semifinal that morning, with Westfield edging out the No. 3-ranked Royals 25-19, 25-23, 25-27, 22-25, 15-8.
“This morning felt like a championship game,” said Rocks coach Sean Keeve. “HSE should still be playing, too. It’s hard that we both got to play each other this early in the postseason. It just is what it is with this sectional.”
The Shamrocks came out blasting in the first set, quickly getting leads of 8-2, 15-5 and 22-7. Audrey Bassett and Paige Rudolph both hit multiple kills. So did Comer; she hit the kill on set point.
The Greyhounds led 5-1 in the second set, including an ace from Sarah Neglia. Westfield worked its way back to a 7-7 tie, then broke a 9-9 tie when Jordyn Blair smacked a kill. Comer hit an ace to put the Rocks up 11-9 and Westfield never trailed in the set again. Comer made a successful net tip to give the Shamrocks set point at 24-17, and Westfield won the set a couple points later.
The third set was tight all the way through. The Shamrocks held their biggest lead at 15-11 after a Georgia Bresnahan kill, but Carmel’s Vanessa Mancini smacked a kill that began a 4-0 run by the Hounds. Neglia served an ace during the run and Lila Bruszewski’s kill tied the match at 15-15.
“Carmel’s a great team,” said Keeve. “I think since we played them about a month ago, they’re 11-2. That’s a phenomenally coached team.”
Westfield again surged ahead, leading 19-16, but Lucianna Pinyerd’s block began another 4-0 run. Samantha Adams took over, hitting a kill before making two successful net tips to give Carmel a 20-19 advantage.
Tennie Anderson served an ace, and that put the Hounds up 24-23. But after a timeout, Westfield came back. Rudolph hit a kill, Emily Blevins made a net tip to give the Rocks match point, and Bresnahan put down a kill to seal the match.
Comer hit 11 kills, while Bresnahan put down nine kills. Blevins dished out 18 assists and Kenna Robinson provided 17 assists.
But the story for Westfield was the defense. The Shamrocks totaled 47 digs as a team, with 10 players getting at least one dig. Kendyl Strack led with nine digs, while Neale and Robinson both collected eight digs.
Keeve said his team shows “the willingness to constantly get after the ball on this team, whether it’s at the net, whether it’s in the back court” and in practice as well.
“They just give us an opportunity,” said Keeve.
Comer said that during practice, “we’ll hit at them with no block a lot of time,” crediting her defensive specialist teammates with “reading our shoulders” as they practice.
“They’re just such raw talent,” said Comer. “All our DSs are so athletic.”
Westfield will play Bellmont this Saturday at the Norwell regional. The Rocks have one regional championship in program history, which they won in 2011.
“I’m excited to keep working and knowing our job’s not finished and just get back in the gym,” said Comer.
Carmel finished its season 16-14, an improvement for the Greyhounds.
“We were 9-21 last year,” said Carmel coach Jonni Parker. The coach said her team is “definitely much-improved” and credited that to “the work they put in, starting in the off-season last year.”
