FLOYDS KNOBS — Floyd Central gave Class 4A No. 4 Columbus East a run for its money in the championship match of the Hoosier Hills Conference Volleyball Tournament on Saturday at Highlander Gymnasium.

The Highlanders came up short of collecting the conference title, losing to the Olympians 26-24, 25-22. Floyd Central began the day with a first-round victory over archrival New Albany (25-9, 25-20), followed by a 25-16, 25-19 semifinal win over Class 4A No. 9 Seymour.

“Overall, we played three top-10 caliber teams in the state of Indiana, and we almost beat all three,” Highlanders’ coach Bart Powell said. “We’ve got to come up with a few more points by the end of the season.”

Coming from behind was a common theme for Floyd Central (16-9) in the title match.

In the first set, the Highlanders trailed the Olympians 19-12, but responded with a 12-5 run to tie the score at 24.

In set two, East pulled out to leads of 9-3 and 14-7 before Floyd Central made another rally. After getting down by seven points, the Highlanders went on a 10-2 spurt to take their only lead of the set at 17-16. Sophomore Remi Bowman provided Floyd Central with the lead thanks to a service ace.

The Olympians bounced back with five straight points to go up 21-17. The Highlanders followed with one last rally by outscoring East 5-1 to deadlock the game at 22, but the Olympians sewed up the conference crown with three consecutive points on back-to-back kills by Faith Myers and Erin Mack and a Floyd Central four-hit violation.

“We put up a good fight, but we kind of letdown against them and I don’t know why,” said Powell, who mentioned the Highlanders could face East again on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Carmel Invitational. “We were scoring points on serve. It was the best we’ve served all year, but East’s ball control was better.”

Sydney Engle paced the Highlander hitters with six kills, while teammate Jordan Alvey had five. Also for Floyd Central, Gwyn Jones had eight blocks and four kills, Hannah Joly smacked four kills and Bowman dished out 22 assists.

Despite falling short of the conference championship, Powell has been impressed with the improvement he has seen from the Highlanders since the start of the season.

“We’re much better than a month ago, and we’ve got to be better in three weeks [for the sectional]. The strength of our schedule has made us better,” Powell said.

New Albany ended the day finishing seventh in the tournament. The Bulldogs lost in the consolation semifinals to Madison in three sets, but rebounded to defeat Jeffersonville in the seventh-place match (25-13, 25-11).

New Albany (18-10) has been going through its share of injuries lately, forcing several players to play in unfamiliar positions.

Outside hitter Catlin Lilly — a Class 4A All-State first-team player last season — is currently out with an ankle injury. Bulldog senior outside hitter Nicole Jones returned to the lineup on Saturday, but she was moved to middle hitter when junior Kelsey Guess got hurt against Floyd Central.

“Our problem right now is I’m shuffling people around due to our injuries,” New Albany coach John Breeding said. “We’re moving people around consistently, and the execution is not there all the time.”

Breeding says the Bulldogs have lot of work to do before sectional.

“I’m proud of the kids in the effort they are giving,” Breeding said. “But we’ve got to have consistency and execution. We’ve got three weeks to get it done. Those people being switched around will get used to their new positions.”

The Red Devils (9-17) suffered a 25-15, 25-16 setback to Jennings County in the opening round. In the consolation semifinals, they fell to Bedford North Lawrence, 25-18, 25-22.

Jeff senior libero Marley Edwards had a solid day defensively with 32 digs for the tournament. She also served four aces. Red Devil setter Jena Reinhardt distributed 22 assists combined versus Jennings and Bedford before injuring her thumb and sitting out the match against the Bulldogs.

Also for the Red Devils, Sara Garwood had 12 digs on the day, Avery Brumit finished with eight kills and three blocks and Hannah Samuel spiked seven kills.

“I thought we could’ve played harder,” Jeff coach Tim Cox said. “I told the girls in the Jennings County match, ‘They are playing harder than you.’ It was the same thing versus Bedford North Lawrence. We just didn’t play hard enough. But we kind of switched the lineup around in game two of that match and we started playing harder.

“The combination of errors is killing us. In one match today, we had 29 errors and you can’t have that many.”

Floyd Central will host Corydon Central on Tuesday. New Albany will visit Class 2A No. 2 Providence on Tuesday. Jeff will travel to Christian Academy on Monday.



HHC TOURNAMENT

FIRST ROUND

JENNINGS COUNTY    25 25

JEFFERSONVILLE       15 16



NEW ALBANY            9 20

FLOYD CENTRAL    25 25

Floyd Central leaders

    Assists — Remi Bowman 18.

    Blocks — Sydney Engle 6, Gwyn Jones 3.

    Kills — Engle 8, Jones 3, Bowman 5.



SEMIFINAL

SEYMOUR                16 19

FLOYD CENTRAL    25 25

Floyd Central leaders

    Assists — Bowman 21.

    Blocks — Engle 4.

    Kills — Engle 11, Hannah Joly 5, Tierney Flaherty 4.



CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL

BEDFORD NL            25 25

JEFFERSONVILLE    18 22



SEVENTH-PLACE MATCH

JEFFERSONVILLE    13 11

NEW ALBANY           25 25

Jeff tournament leaders

    Aces — Marley Edwards 4.

    Assists — Jena Reinhardt 22.

    Blocks — Brumit 3.

    Digs — Edwards 32, Garwood 12.

    Kills — Brumit 8, Hannah Samuel 7.

CHAMPIONSHIP

COLUMBUS EAST    26 25

FLOYD CENTRAL    24 22

Floyd Central leaders

    Assists — Bowman 22.

    Blocks — Jones 8.

    Kills — Engle 6, Jordan Alvey 5, Jones 4.