IHSAA girls volleyball: Faith Christian, Harrison, West Lafayette win sectional titles

LAFAYETTE — The very life of Harrison's season was seemingly on life support at Lafayette Jeff High School.

Its rival McCutcheon had outmaneuvered and overpowered Harrison in the first two sets of the IHSAA Class 4A sectional championships.

Junior middle blocker Maezi Snyder was throwing blocks up and Harrison was lacking an offensive authority to turn the Mavericks out of system.

"The team was low, but you could tell that they weren’t ready to give up. Not ready to end," Harrison coach Jackie Lehe said. "They knew they could compete if they just dug deep and played their game which is what they did.”

Harrison clawed its way back from elimination by winning the final three sets to beat McCutcheon 22-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-9 and captured its second straight sectional championship.

Lehe made the tactical adjustment by inserting freshman 5-foot-10 middle blocker Grace Watts. The presence of Watts in the middle opened up shot opportunities for Harrison (20-13), which began to slowly dig its way back.

Sophomore outside hitter Eva Stokes attacked aggressively and Harrison's attack would cause McCutcheon to cave.

McCutcheon finished its season 12-18, but was considered one of the top teams in the Lafayette area because of its rigorous non conference schedule. The Mavericks swept Harrison on Sept. 19.

It took us a little bit longer to find our own groove. Not the team we wanted to be," Lehe said. "We are a young team, but these kids are competitors and we were going to find a way."

• 1A Covington sectional championship: Faith Christian swept Riverton Parke 25-22, 25-18, 25-18.
• 1A Rossville sectional championship: Rossville beat Clinton Prairie 23-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-13.
• 2A Western Boone sectional championship: Western Boone swept Benton Central 25-19, 25-20, 25-19.
• 3A Peru sectional championship: West Lafayette swept Northwestern 25-13, 25-16, 25-20.

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com , on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson .

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: IHSAA girls volleyball: Faith Christian, Harrison, West Lafayette win sectional titles