(10-31-22) What a dream state final…two teams with 30-6 records, two teams who have won recent state titles and both make it a habit to be in the IHSAA State Volleyball Final Four — Providence and Bellmont.

Providence coach Terri Purichia has a record of 667-201 and 92-20 in tournament play. Purichia has won 36 Sectionals, 16 Regionals, 13 Final Fours (86, 99, 01, 02, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22). 2x State Runners-Up (12, 16). 3x State Champions (13, 14, 15)

Providence lost their first two sets of the tournament, but hung on to beat Western Boone in five…25-20, 25-16, 12-25, 23-25, 15-7.

Coach Craig Krull, who picked up his 500th win last season, has led Bellmont to it’s the fifth state finals appearance for the Braves since 2007, winning that year and in 2010, while being runner-up in 2019 and 2021.

After beating NorthWood in the Semi-State match Krull told the Goshen News –

“I think we were very efficient in what we did (on offense) because we knew what we had to do and where we had to hit it to score some points.We were definitely strong, offensively. We did struggle sometimes, but we found ways to settle down and really get our offense to work for us.”

scores courtesy MaxPreps

The Braves have been perfect in every tournament match winning every set (25-20, 25-22, 25-10) entering the State Final match this coming weekedn.

scores courtesy MaxPreps

Bellmont (30-6) will play Providence (30-6) for the Class 3A state championship next Saturday, Nov. 5 at Worthen Arena on the campus of Ball State University.

Advertisement