Jennings County’s Sydney Kegley, center, and Addison Martin go up to try to block against Columbus East’s Chandler Harris, left, during a volleyball match at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
For the better part of the past two decades, Columbus East has been at or near the top of the Hoosier Hills Conference volleyball standings, and Jennings County has been in the lower tier of the HHC.
The past couple years, the roles have been reversed. The Panthers have been contenders, while the Olympians have struggled to get things going.
Tuesday night, their paths crossed again at The Orange Pit. Jennings stayed in the thick of the conference title chase with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-13 victory.
“We’ve been playing really well. We had a really good summer,” first-year Panther coach LeAna Matern said. “We had several girls that played on the same club volleyball teams, and that really helped them mesh. We have some really big goals this year. We know we have some really good talent, and we’re excited to keep pushing forward.”
Jennings was coming off a sweep in Saturday’s Scottsburg Tournament, beating Cascade, Heritage Hills, Evansville North and Scottsburg all in two sets.
The Panthers (8-1, 3-1) picked up on Tuesday where they left off. They never trailed in the first set. East (2-7, 1-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set and was within 4-3 when Jennings got a sideout and then 10 consecutive points with senior libero Mallory Manowitz at the service line. The Panthers never trailed in the third set.
“I just think we needed to focus a little bit more and execute better and make less errors,” Manowitz said. “I think we can play way better than that, and we need to go to practice and focus.”
Addison Martin recorded 35 assists, two blocks and five aces and Aylah Belding had 12 kills and 13 digs to lead Jennings. Avynn Belding tallied two blocks.
Also for the Panthers, Avynn Belding pounded 10 kills, and Kaydence Lowman added nine kills. Manowitz had seven digs and two aces, Martin notched seven digs and Aylah Belding served two aces.
For the Olympians, Lilah Klei pounded seven kills, Krea Martin recorded 12 asists, Chloe Gill notched nine digs and Addison Emery served one ace. Kimberly Carothers and Anika Jenkins each tallied four kills, Jillian Chapple had three assists and Martin added eight digs.
“We have not quite found the perfect lineup,” first-year East coach Alison Eagleman said. “So we’re going to be working on that this week and working on different plays and getting our energy level up.”
Gill moved to libero for this game while Emery slid over to a defensive specialist spot. Emery sustained a knee injury midway through the second set and plans to undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
“Chloe had some great games, and I just wanted to switch it up and give her a try,” Eagleman said. “I thought she did really well. She battled at first. It’s a big responsibility, but I think after all the craziness tonight, she did a great job.”
