BR wins Volleyball Sectional

October 27, 2008 12:07 pm

— LOOGOOTEE — Throughout an outstanding 2008 season, the Barr-Reeve Lady Vikings have out-Foxed their opponents. Along the way, Barr-Reeve has developed outstanding team Harmony. And when confronted by a tough opponent, the Lady Vikes just throw Sanders in the face of the other team.
But though Class A No. 4 Barr-Reeve is more of a team than just three of its most outstanding players — Hilliary Fox, Tya Harmon and Maggie Sanders — that trio has been a big part of the Lady Vikings’ success, which includes a 33-2 record, a Blue Chip Conference championship, and now, a sectional title thanks to a 25-13, 25-10, 25-14 Loogootee Sectional championship match win over Shoals on Saturday. The win had its roots in defeat, namely last year’s bitter sectional semifinal loss to Loogootee, according to Fox, who led the Lady Vikes against Shoals (10-13) with 19 kills.
“It really hurt from last year. For 365 days, that loss has been in our heads,” said Fox. “We just wanted to come back and prove that we could do it.”
The sectional championship was the 16th in school history for Barr-Reeve but the first since 2003.
“It feels like forever since we’ve been here, but it feels good,” said Barr-Reeve coach Amber DeCoursey.
Senior Megan Delaney, who had five service points and seven digs in a semifinal win over Loogootee earlier in the day, said she and her teammates followed the prescription for success DeCoursey and assistant coaches Jennifer Wirtz and Holly Halt gave them in practice during the week.
“They preached to us all week that we had to come in here with our business face and take care of business,” said Delaney. “And that’s what we did.”
A big part of the Lady Vikings success has been the emergence of a pair of freshman in Harmon and Haley Taylor, who tallied 14 and eight kills respectively in the two matches on Saturday.
In addition, Sanders, a sophomore, added 17 kills on the day despite playing with soreness in both legs due to injuries.
“Harmon has just done an outstanding job. Our two freshmen have just come in and done an outstanding job for us,” said DeCoursey.
“Hilliary is a put away girl, but we have other people contributing and playing well.”
Amber Rademacher topped the Lady Vikes with 26 assists, with Terrell Miller adding 14. Shanelle Burch led B-R with 11 digs.
Barr-Reeve will face Tecumseh in the first game of the Loogootee Regional on Saturday at 11 a.m., with the second semifinal between Springs Valley and the New Washington Sectional winner to follow for a spot in the 7 p.m. championship match.

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