By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MITCHELL – Rivalries ramp up the adrenaline and expose raw nerves. And no sport in the Mitchell-Bedford North Lawrence sphere captures the competitive nature of the neighborhood clashes better than volleyball. BNL dominates most of them, but not this one.
Not since Scott Saunders made his exodus south to take over the Mitchell program. The Bluejackets continued their recent run of success in the series, thanks to a fast start in the first two sets and a quick getaway in the final frame.
Experience is key to handling the emotional overload of a county battle, and Mitchell’s senior-heavy squad showed its cool under duress – both from BNL’s pesky bombardment and Mitchell’s own friendly-fire mishaps – during a four-set triumph on Tuesday night.
Overcoming a tidal wave of service errors with net force and floor burns, the Bluejackets prevailed 25-18, 25-14, 21-25, 25-17. Brooke Reynolds hammered 11 kills as Mitchell (4-1) won for the fifth time since Saunders moved from BNL six years ago. The Stars (2-1) didn’t go home without making some noise, especially during a third-set turnaround, but a nervous start created a deficit that even the most resilient could not overcome.
“In the first two sets, we let nerves take over,” BNL coach Whitney Carroll said. “We came to this gym, and it’s a lot. The crowd is roaring, it’s the county rivalry, and we felt it. I wish we had gotten it together a little sooner. We talk about faith over fear a lot, and there was a lot of fear out there.”
Perhaps Mitchell sensed it. The Bluejackets pulled away quickly in the opening set, capped by a Reynolds kill, then had their best spurt in the second. Freshman hitter Jenna Allen made a diving save to set up a Jillian Bond block kill, typical of the hustle that got Mitchell in front. Jocelyn Allen’s left-handed putaway finished the second set, and the Stars looked finished.
Not quite. Rising from the ashes, BNL broke out 6-1, then scored seven straight points on Kendlyn Alvey’s serve for a 13-5 edge. Three Camryn Anderson kills and another by Anna Williams kept the Stars in front. Mitchell scrapped back within 23-21 late in the third set, but two more Mitchell errors foiled the comeback.
“That was our team,” Carroll said. “We’re a scrappy team. We weren’t ever going to shut down and stop. We just have to be warriors even when things aren’t going well.”
Mitchell rebounded to quell the threat, jumping on top 5-0 to start the fourth and roaring ahead 15-6. The Bluejackets completed the triumph with two Reynolds kills and a Page Mullis ace.
“We kind of thought it was over,” Saunders said. “You have to be ready to play. We did what a lot of teams do, we kind of relaxed. I thought they were ready to quit, but we didn’t take advantage. All of a sudden, they got a perk in their step and played good ball. The next thing you know, it’s not over. Luckily we did a good job of closing out.”
In addition to Reynolds’ work up front, Mitchell had other quality numbers. Jocelyn Allen totaled 9 kills and Bond added 6, and Jayden Allen had 25 assists, 5 aces and 11 defensive digs. Mullis had 14 digs. But a lot of that good work was tainted by a whopping 16 service errors and even a handful of alignment mistakes. Those free points were almost costly.
“We passed the ball a little better those first two sets, which overshadowed some of our serving,” Saunders said. “We handled the ball well enough to do some good things, get some good swings. That third set, it caught up with us. We made a lot of errors in a row, and that really cost us. There were a lot of great things that happened, but they get overshadowed by all the serving errors.
“We just got in a hurry, and it come back to bite us. Give BNL credit, they took that momentum. They did some good things.”
Anderson recorded 11 kills and 10 digs, Sammie Gratzer had 8 kills and 3 blocks, and Alvey totaled 25 digs for the Stars.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday. Mitchell will visit Paoli for its PLAC opener, while the Stars will host Brown County.
