4A State Championship Preview

<p>We’re down to the final preview of the biggest class of high school volleyball in Indiana. Saturday evening, one of these teams will win their first state title. Here are the teams, how they got here, and what players to watch.</p> <p><strong>McCutcheon (29-6)</strong></p> <p>Didn’t we see this coming from the Mavericks? After winning their first regional title last fall against then-#1 Hamilton Southeastern, we knew that they had arrived on the volleyball scene. What we DIDN’T know was how much experience this group had already brought with them to get this far. Now, this squad is one win away from their first state title. Riding an 11-match winning streak, the Mavericks didn’t drop their first set in the postseason until the semi-state against Penn in a five-set come-from-behind thriller. We all know that <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="85895" first="Chloe" last="Chicoine"] (’23, 5-9 OH, Penn State commit)</strong> will get her kills, as she did just that last Saturday to the tune of 34 kills on 101 (!!!) swings. She capped off that offensive outburst with 21 digs and 2 blocks, notching a double-double again and showing that it’s defense first in Lafayette. She also received 22 serves without an error, which I can say with confidence doesn’t happen much for most six-rotation passers here in Indiana. With an AAU title under her belt from the summer of ’20, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="110523" first="Allie" last="Shondell"] (’24, 5-10 S)</strong> runs the offense well, and will be relied upon to not only find their go-to, but get the rest of her squad involved. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="85926" first="Raegan" last="Burns"] (’23, 5-5 DS/L, Kansas commit)</strong> is the serve receive and defensive anchor for this roster, and showed it with 31 digs in the semi-state. </p> <p><strong>Castle (32-2)</strong></p> <p>The Knights haven’t lost since Labor Day, and both of their losses came in five sets to perennial powers Yorktown and Brownsburg. Looking back, we should have seen this coming as well, since they’ve dropped only two sets since then. Sweeping 4A top five Roncalli in the semi-state was a HUGE statement win for this squad, after knocking off Columbus East in the regional final the weekend before. We haven’t ranked them in our top five this fall for good reason---we haven’t seen them play. It helped their visibility to show fiery competitiveness against the two powers listed above, and with two wins over Floyd Central, this is a team that can play at a high level consistently. Roncalli’s focus, correctly, was on <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="107136" first="Natalie" last="Niehaus"] (’22, 5-9 OH), </strong>who led the victors with 13 kills. But she can’t do this without someone getting her the ball, so setter <strong>Breanna Lane (’23, 5-9 S)</strong> runs a 5-1 offense with ease, even against the best competition. Two 6-1 middles gave the Knights a size advantage over Roncalli, too. Seniors <strong>Layla Leigh Wandel (’22, 6-1 MB)</strong> and <strong>Caroline Haas (’22, 6-1 MB)</strong> use their strength and length to put balls away regularly and make things easier for the defenders behind them. </p>