Is third time the charm?
Northview volleyball coach Scott McDonald doesn’t consider the gym at Cascade High School to be especially charming — one end of the court is a foot shorter than the other end, he pointed out, forcing the teams to switch sides between sets like teams did before 2021 — but he would like to snap a two-match regional losing streak the Knights have there.
Saturday’s 1 p.m. match against Indianapolis Cathedral will be Northview’s fifth straight Class 3A regional appearance, and the losses the past two seasons haven’t been the fault of the Cascade gym, or for that matter the fault of the Knights.
Two years ago, Northview faced a Roncalli team that was ranked fifth in the nation (yet was still playing in Indiana’s Class 3A) and was on its way to a state championship. Last year the Knights faced Tri-West and its Miss Volleyball candidate, 6-foot-2 Caroline Ward.
And each time the Knights fought like demons, heart-breaking losses coming despite their inspirational play.
“We have played well there,” McDonald admitted.
“I like playing at Cascade,” offered senior Alex Strahla, one of the Northview captains and a recent entrant into the program’s 100-victory club.
“It’s close to us, we have experience in that gym . . . I love to go to regionals.”
Northview enters Saturday’s match with a 25-8 record, while Cathedral is 23-10. Both are ranked very high in 3A polls and in the state in general. And in the past, Cathedral’s Irish could justify their less impressive record because of playing a tougher schedule.
Not this year. The Knights have beefed up their own schedule as much as they could, one of their victories coming in five sets a couple of weeks ago against — Cathedral.
“Having played a team and beaten them gives us a little more confidence going in,” McDonald said. “We know more about them than we’d learn just by watching film — but of course they know about us too.”
Asked how he like the tougher schedule, McDonald answered, “I wish it would get even harder.
“You’ll never get better if you don’t play teams that might be better than you are,” the coach explained. “We’ve played all of those heavyweights, and that’s challenged us in practice. You can’t take a point off against those teams. [The schedule] can never be hard enough. Iron sharpens iron. When you play teams you know you can beat, you don’t know the areas you need to work on.”
“I’m really excited [about Saturday],” Strahla said. “[The Irish are] a really good team … it’s just so fun, seeing so many great players on the court.”
Strahla has seen a lot of great players. You don’t participate in 100 or more victories without being a valuable player on very good teams for all four years of high school, and Strahla has made herself valuable in as many different ways as any of the Knights who came before her.
“My freshman year I was a serving specialist,” she related this week. “My sophomore year I started as an outside hitter, last year I played some on the right side [opposite hitter] and this year I’m an outside hitter again.
“The last three years have been really fun,” Strahla said, and she thinks this year is the best of them for her.
“We have lots and lots of hitters, and lots of girls who can play different positions,” said said, “so we can spread [the offense] out more.”
And as a senior and one of the captains, she enjoys “being one of the girls that talks, being looked up to by the younger girls. Me and the other three seniors [Tori DeHart, Bella May and Audrey Staggs] make sure to have a lot of fun, and include the younger girls in everything.”
“There’s not a moment too big for [the Knights],” said their coach, “and that’s a tribute to those four seniors.”
Cathedral, McDonald said, is big, with an “extremely good libero and the best setter we’ve seen all year.”
Sounds like must-see volleyball again.
• Class 2A, Sullivan vs. North Posey at Loogootee, 7 p.m. — Both of these teams have played tough schedules, with no bad losses on either resume. The Vikings are in a regional for the first time in three seasons but had won three in a row before that. Sullivan reached the regional for the first time in nine years.
“I’m super proud of the girls and all their hard work,” coach Cassidy Clothier said this week. “[Sullivan] doesn’t have a regional title just yet and we ar working hard to be the first to do it.
“North Posey is a great team and we’re excited for the match,” the coach continued. “It will be a good fight.”
• Class A, Shakamak vs. Shoals at Loogootee, 4 p.m. — The Lakers are also without a regional title and have had three sectional championships to get one. Coach Emeral Goff feels they’re ready to take the next step.
“I’m incredibly proud of this group of young ladies and everything they’ve accomplished this season,” Goff said. “Winning four sectionals n a row is something special, but these ladies aren’t satisfied yet. We have an opportunity to do something that’s never been done in Shakamak volleyball history, and that’s exciting for all of us.
“We know Shoals will be a tough opponent and consistency is going to be the key.”
Saturday regionals
Class 3A, at Cascade — Northview (25-8) vs. Indianapolis Cathedral (23-10), 1 p.m.
Class 2A, at Loogootee — Sullivan (23-8) vs. North Posey (21-7, 7 p.m.
Class A, at Loogootee — Shakamak (25-3) vs. Shoals (26-3), 4 p.m.