(11-4-19) On Saturday night in Plymouth at the Class 3A IHSAA Volleyball semi-state Bellmont (25-10) defeated New Prairie 3-1 (25-10, 25-19, 17-25, 25-14). Bellmont advances to play in the 3A State final on the campus of Ball State this coming weekend.

The Braves were led in the win by Sophie Krull who had 16 kills, Emilee Scheumann 14 and Meg Saalfrank added 12.

With the win Bellmont picks up its third semi-state volleyball title. The  Braves also have won state titles in 2007 and 2010.

It has not been an easy road to the state finals, Bellmont has gone to five sets in 3 of their matches during the tournament run, including being down 2-0 to NorthWood in the Norwell Regional Final before coming back and winning the final 3 sets.

The Braves are led by senior Emilee Scheuman, who has over 400 kills this season, sophomore Emma McMahon, who has over 50 aces and senior Sarah Noonan, who has almost 1,000 assists.

Bellmont Senior libero Rachel McBride became the Braves’ all-time leader in digs during the Regionals passing the 1,500 mark and has been the recent spark plug during the state tournament run.

Bellmont Coach Craig Krull  told the Journal-Gazette before the semi-state match–

“I’ve been around Rachel a lot, and I’m sure the things coming out of her mouth were mostly inspirational because it’s her last chance. She’ll pull them together and get them all going in the right direction. It’s fun to watch; they all kind of feed off of her and where she goes we go, and today it was the right way.”

Bellmont will now face a BIG challenge in the State Final game against Brownstown Central (33-5), the #2 ranked Braves beat #1 ranked Evansville Memorial in convincing fashion at the Jasper Semi-state final on Saturday 25-20, 25-20, 25-11. It will be the 8th trip (2008 last trip) to the state finals for Coach Jennifer Shade and Brownstown Central, in the previous seven finals over the years they lost every final to Steve Shondell’s Muncie Burris team.

How good is this Brownstown Central team? Really good…during this tournament run they have not lost one set, they have been perfect. In 18 sets they have only given up 20 points in 2 of them and that came against Evansville Memorial on Saturday.

Five different Braves have at least 125 kills this year led by unior Kendra McCory has over 300. Seniors Keeli Darlage has over 263 Addie Wilkerson over 189, while juniors Kayla Guthrie and Jennifer Pence have over 172 and over 125. Even setter Setter Reagan Nuss has over 60 hits.

Brownstown Central volleyball coach Jennifer Shade told tribtown.com before the the semi-state game –

“We’re good enough and versatile enough that we can move our hitters and run plays in front of other blockers. Our offense changes just a little bit, but [Reagan Nuss] knows the game plan and we have so many different options we can run.”

Evansville Memorial Head coach Andi Allford told the courierpress.com after the loss to Brownstown Central –

“They had a very strong middle (attack) offensively and honestly, that was something we really hadn’t played against this season. We never really had control of this game and that was an uncharacteristic place for us to be.”

The Class 3A state title match will be played at 3 p.m. Saturday at Ball State’s Worthen Arena in Muncie.

Regular Season Match-up – Carmel Invitational

  • Brownstown Central over Bellmont 25-19, 25-15

How they reached the State Finals–

Bellmont

Sectionals

Bellmont over Norwell 25-13, 25-7, 25-19
Bellmont over Delta 25-19, 22-25, 28-26, 25-22
Bellmont over Muncie Burris 25-22, 31-33, 25-20, 20-25,15-10

Regionals at Norwell

Bellmont over Angola 25-21,21-25,18-25,25-16,16-14
Bellmont over NorthWood 20-25, 13-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-6

Semi-State at Plymouth

Bellmont over New Prairie 25-19, 25-14, 17-25, 25-11

Brownstown Central

Sectionals
Brownstown Central over West Vigo 25-7, 25-5, 25-8
Brownstown Central over Owen Valley 25-13, 25-12, 25-12
Brownstown Central over Edgewood 25-10, 25-10, 25-5

Danville Community

Brownstown Central over Speedway 25-9, 25-9, 25-9
Brownstown Central over Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory 25-18, 25-19, 25-18

Semi-State at Jasper

#2 Brownstown Central over #1 Evansville Memorial 25-20, 25-20, 25-11

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