3A Updated Rankings: What Goes Around…

Photo: Prep Dig, Josiah

Kyp Harasymowycz September 30, 2020 @ 10:42 AM

With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season for Indiana, we are starting to see some of the same schools and names pop up right when they need to. The end of the regular season separates the contenders from the pretenders, and we have nothing but contenders in this series of articles. Although this week’s 3A edition seems new, all five teams listed have been in the top five at one point or another, and the players mentioned are easy highlights to find for each. We’d like to thank Zach McCrite, purveyor of IndianaPrepVolleyball.com, for his help in constructing these top five teams. If you’re at all interested in Indiana high school volleyball, go check it out. #5: Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, 18-2 Last week: #4 Full disclosure: these rankings were constructed on Monday morning, roughly eight hours before the Saints knocked off 3A #1 Bellmont in five grueling sets. Coming back from a 2-1 deficit is one thing. To do it against the 3A state runner-up from last year is completely another. Impressive win, and should go a long way to solidify the confidence of Dwenger going forward. In that match, Notre Dame commit [player_tooltip player_id="85813" first="Eva" last="Hudson"] pounded 32 kills, hit .342, and finished out the triple-double with eleven blocks and nineteen digs. #4: Evansville Memorial, 14-5 Last week: NR Welcome back, Tigers! Although their next match doesn’t happen until October 6, the Tigers have still shown how tough they can be in their schedule. [player_tooltip player_id="103404" first="Traeston" last="McCutchan"] (’22, 6-2, RS) brings her four kills per set to the squad, and nearly triples the output of the next best player. #3: Heritage, 21-3 Last week: NR Hello, Patriots! Good to see you back, and at the perfect time. They’ve only dropped three sets since their last loss almost three weeks ago, including their win last night against Bluffton. Their season finale against #5 Dwenger might be their only chance at revenge; their two-set tournament loss to the Saints back in August probably still stings. [player_tooltip player_id="92611" first="Allison" last="Richman"] (’22, 5-11, S) runs part of the 6-2 the Patriots employ, and never comes out. Her team lead in kills and hitting percentage and her second-place hold on blocks and assists make her indispensable. #2: Muncie Burris, 16-3 Last week: #2 With Bellmont’s loss on Monday, this ranking will most likely change next week. But for now, the Owls will have to look up to the Braves for one more week. Burris has already won the conference tournament, making them champs again with a straight-sets victory over Park Tudor. Defending 4A champ New Castle comes to Muncie tomorrow, and their season finale is against 2A runner-up from last year Wapahani the following week. No better way to prepare for the postseason than playing the best. We still like [player_tooltip player_id="103403" first="Abigail" last="Kesler"] (’22, 5-11, MB), who doubles the next most kills on her team. While hitting nearly .400, Miss Kesler is clearly the front-runner for team MVP. #1: Bellmont, 13-4 Last week: #1 There is no perfect time for a "good loss", but losing to 3A #5 Dwenger during the REGULAR season is definitely better than losing to them in the postseason. Matches against 2A #2 Wapahani and 1A defending champ Cowan on the last day of the regular season will be great preparation for what should be a wide open 3A state tournament. Although Sophie Krull (’21, 5-8, OH) is tied for the team lead in kills, we still five the slight edge to Megan Saalfrank (’22, 5-11, MB), whose hitting percentage is over 150 points higher.