By THOMAS ST. MYER
tstmyer@muncie.gannett.com
MUNCIE — No one in their right mind predicted Central to win the Class 4A state championship before the season started.
After all, the Bearcats lost eight seniors who played significant roles in their state finals appearance last year, and Abbie Allardt and Marquita Marshall accounted for the only returners who played significant varsity minutes.
But what the Bearcats missed in experience, they made up for in talented players who patiently waited their chance to shine. Saturday provided that opportunity and those players cashed in.
The No. 2 Bearcats put together a complete team effort without the services of one of their best players for the final two sets to sweep No. 1 Elkhart Memorial 25-19, 25-23, 25-16 and capture the sixth Class 4A state title in school history.
As the ball sailed out of bounds on the final point and his players dove to the floor to celebrate, Bearcats coach Wes Lyon rushed over to embrace Marshall.
“I felt she had given us so much that she needed to have as much attention as everybody, and she couldn’t run, though she sure tried,” Lyon said. “She lunged into me trying.”
The Central junior middle blocker crumpled to the ground with an injured knee in mid-point with the Bearcats up 23-18 in the first set. Marshall notched four kills on only four swings before the injury.
Lyon called on reserve Taylor Rabel to replace Marshall in the front row and senior Suzanna Barker for her back-row rotation. Both players proved up to the challenge.
Rabel drew the Elkhart Memorial blockers, freeing up lanes for Jamie Drummer, Alyssa Sorrell and Allardt to put the ball down in.
“At first, I’ve got to admit I was really hurting inside when ‘Quinta went down,” Allardt said. “But Taylor Rabel had been getting so much better, and Jamie, Alyssa and I had to really step it up and we did.”
Marshall returned to the Central bench in the second set with her knee wrapped up in ice. She elevated her foot on a chair and cheered on her teammates as they put together what Lyon dubbed their best effort of the season.
Drummer notched a match-high 14 kills and Allardt and Sorrell each tallied 10 kills.
A senior who waited three years for her shot to start on varsity, Sorrell tallied three straight points down the stretch in the third set to seal the victory.
“When we’re all together and connecting, it’s seriously magical,” Sorrell said.
Barker provided the Bearcats a lift with her serving and passing. The senior served back-to-back aces early in the second to put the Bearcats up 4-3 and they never trailed from that point forward in the set.
“How about Suzanna Barker coming in? She comes in and serves the match of her life, and I think really dictated a lot of what we could do,” Lyon said. “We got a lot of average speed balls back across the net because of her serve. Hats off to her, because she had a whale of a game.”
The Bearcats (35-4) finished with only five aces, but their serving took Elkhart Memorial out of system. The Chargers hit balls set far off the net due to their ball-control woes throughout the match.
Drummer topped the Bearcats with 13 digs and Zoe Bilello finished with eight as Central passed the ball with precision to setter Christina LeBlanc.
Lyon coached Central to one previous state championship in 2004 when he inherited a loaded roster from Dave Shondell. His second felt even sweeter.
“This is very rewarding championship, just from the standpoint that you lose eight seniors and you have this adversity at the end of this match and still find ways to win,” Lyon said. “I just think it was a great response by a great group of young ladies.”