Published: October 28, 2009 11:53 pm         

Northview’s volleyball team riding high into regional

Brazil — Simply winning the Martinsville Sectional in high school volleyball last week, the school’s first championship in the sport in Class 4A, might have been enough for the Northview girls.

But the way the Knights accomplished that feat — falling behind two games to one against Plainfield and two games to none in matches against Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North before winning a trio of five-gamers that had their many fans on the edge of hysteria — made things all that much more impressive and left them with a good feeling as they head to the Seymour Regional on Saturday.

“I’m still shocked,” said Ali Sharton, one of the team’s two senior captains.

“I don’t have a word for it,” agreed Brittaney Long, the other captain. “It’s the most unbelievable feeling.”

“This is definitely the best I’ve felt in a really long time,” said junior Hannah Hayes.

“It’s like the best feeling ever,” summarized junior

Kaylee Clark.

“I could not stop smiling all weekend.”

“After what these kids went through [to win the sectional], the environment [at the regional] shouldn’t be overwhelming,” coach Scott McDonald said this week. “They faced elimination eight times. We’ve tested our mettle.”

The Knights remain at a loss to explain just how they forged those three comebacks, although they give a lot of credit to their team unity. When Alyssa Clarke, one of their senior regulars who was having an exceptionally strong match, suffered a season-ending injury against Plainfield last Thursday, that seemed to only strengthen the team’s resolve.

“We were playing it for each other and for Alyssa,” said Sharton. “She wanted [the sectional championship] more than anybody. Sam [fellow senior Samantha Solomon, who took Clarke’s spot in the lineup] stepped up, and every huddle we said, ‘Play with our heart, and play for Alyssa.’”

“After seeing Alyssa sitting there [after her injury] smiling and trying to keep everybody else up, we knew we had to do it,” said Long.

Hayes, who has several roles on the team and who is possibly the most emotional member of a group that takes a back seat to no one in that area, helped provide a boost that enabled the Knights to win their last two games against Plainfield.

But on Saturday morning against South, probably the Knights’ biggest volleyball rival, the Knights suffered a gut-wrenching, come-from-ahead first-game loss that almost derailed the entire operation.

“At the start of the third game, I was out there crying on the court, and so was Brittaney,” Sharton admitted this week. “Mac [McDonald] wasn’t happy with us.”

“It took a lot for us to get up,” said Hayes.

But the Knights got things going in the third game and Clark’s serving, a strong point throughout the sectional, got the fourth game off to a good start. The last two games against the Braves weren’t all that close, and after that the loss of two close games to North in the championship match didn’t seem to bother the Knights at all.

“That’s the way North beat us [in the regular season], so to [beat the Patriots] the exact same way made it so much better,” Clark said this week.

Now the Knights face the state’s third-ranked team, Floyd Central, knowing they have a few things going for them.

“Our whole team has been really good friends for awhile,” Long said. “We’re open with each other, and that’s helped us bond and keep together.”

“We’re all close as a team — sisters,” said Sharton. “Our chemistry is really strong.”

“We know that we are basically like a family,” said Clark. “We feed off each other’s energy so well.”

“We learned that our team has a lot of heart,” said Hayes, “that we can come together in tough times and be successful. Become one.”