Kennedy Horn, left, and Ally Wettschurack, second from left, and Columbus North teammates celebrate an opening-round sectional win against Shelbyville Thursday at Franklin.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
FRANKLIN — Having swept Shelbyville in three sets during the regular season, Columbus North went into Thursday night’s opening-round Franklin Sectional volleyball contest as a big favorite.
The Bull Dogs never led the Golden Bears gain a lot of traction. They rolled to a 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 victory to move into Saturday’s semifinals.
“I think we were pretty confident, but you never want to underestimate a team because you never know if they can come back and beat you,” junior middle hitter Kennedy Horn said. “We just need to go in the gym on Friday and put in the work and come out prepared for Saturday.”
North (16-12) led 4-3 in the first set Thursday when it went on a run with Roselynn Venegas serving to extend the lead to 9-3. The Golden Bears did not come closer than four points, and the Bull Dogs pulled away.
In the second set, Shelbyville led 11-9 before North went on a 12-2 run behind the serving of Morgan Osborn, Ally Wettschurack and Venegas to take a 21-13 lead. The Bull Dogs closed the set on a kill by Karen Dutro.
Osborn served North to a 7-0 lead in the third set. The Golden Bears got back with within 16-13, but Osborn went on another serving run to extend the lead back to 22-13.
“Knowing that we beat them already, and I knew that they were going to have some changes and we had some changes, there were no nerves to it,” said Osborn, a sophomore libero. “We were pretty calm and relaxed about it. I feel like we had some silly errors that we can clean up in the next couple days.”
Horn pounded 13 kills and one solo and one assist block, and Osborn had 16 digs and four aces to lead the Bull Dogs. Reese Edwards recorded 25 assists.
Also for North, Dutro tallied eight kills and one solo block. Kaitlin White and Sydney Ousley each added four kills, and Kaitlynn Mabis notched five digs.
Columbus East will play Franklin, a straight-set winner over East Central in Thursday’s opener, in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday. North will meet Whiteland in the second semifinal at around noon. The sectional final is at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“I think we knew what we needed to work on this week in practice, and we did it,” North coach Jenna Ortega said. “It was a nice win for us. I honestly think we could play a lot harder. We played too relaxed, but that’s one thing we’ll be ready to do on Saturday is step it up a notch. I think as long as we show up to play our game, we won’t have any issues.”
