Preble Shawnee’s Ally Rike (left) and Caylee Hatmaker attmept a block during the Arrows match with Eaton on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Eaton won in straight sets 25-9, 25-19, 25-16.
Eddie Mowen Jr. | The Register-Herald
CAMDEN — Eaton and Preble Shawnee renewed their rivalry on the volleyball court to close out the regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 15 with the visiting Eagles claiming a straight-sets win, 25-9, 25-19, 25-16.
Eaton improved to 14-8 overall while Shawnee fell to 7-15.
“I thought we served the ball tough and it kind of kept them out of system all night,” Eaton coach Parker Fields said. “I thought at the beginning of the night, our game plan was (slowing down Sallie) Montgomery, she tends to hit the ball to the one-six. I slid my defender over and she didn’t get started. Aside from that, I felt like the second two sets, we kind of let them stay in. It just kind of got a little bit sloppy. Tends to get like that. They (Preble Shawnee) have some kids that have potential. But I liked the way we received serve except for the first three points of last two sets. I thought we served tough. There were some mistakes in the service line, but it was because I was trying to get them to go short.”
Shandon Garrett led Eaton with 15 kills, 30 set attempts, two assists, 14 total service points, six aces and five digs.
Julianne Deaton had nine kills, 15 set attempts, and one dig. Daisy Suggs had six kills and 14 set attempts. Kenzie Wilson had three kills, seven set attempts, 30 assists, eight total service points, and seven digs.
Ella Statzer had two kills, six assists, eight total service points and 11 digs.
“I thought we played good defense. I thought at the end of the match we hit the ball really well in terms of trying to make shots and stay away from the block,” Parker Fields said. “In the middle of the match, I felt like we were just going up to hit for kills. What I mean by that is we were just trying to hit beat the hell out of the ball.”
Eaton will be taking some momentum into the postseason. The Eagles will play Oakwood Saturday, Oct. 19, at Centerville High School, at 3:30 p.m.
“We’ve won six of seven, something like that. I feel like that’s pretty good,” Parker Fields said. “We beat a couple Greater Catholic League schools. We avenged one (a loss) to Waynesville, won on our senior night. I feel pretty good about where we are heading. I feel really good about our tournament draw.
For Shawnee, first year coach Brody Rike has seen progress from his team and thought his team put forth a solid effort despite the loss.
“I was pretty proud of our effort,” he said. “We knew that was one of the tougher teams on our schedule going in tonight. It was going to take our best effort to pull out a win like that. Our challenges where we had some times where we just did not receive really well, and had some spurts where we had some attack errors. This has been a big transition year for us, from graduating four seniors last year another strong core the year before. But proud of the effort that these five seniors have put together, as well as our two juniors have been really strong for us this season.”
Leading Shawnee was Montgomery with eight kills, 24 set attempts, three assists, eight total service points, and four digs.
Caylee Hatmaker had six kills, 12 set attempts, one assist, nine total service points, one ace, six digs and two blocks. Macy Price had one kill, six set attempts, 13 total service points, two aces, and eight digs.
Ally Rike had one kill, 11 set attempts, 10 assists, eight total service points, and six digs. Emily Shields had nine digs and Emma Fields six digs and two blocks.
The Arrows will open sectional play on Saturday against Miami East, at Brookville High School, beginning at 1 p.m.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
