BROWNSTOWN
Coming into the 2016 volleyball season, the Brownstown Central freshmen didn’t know how to lose.
In their three years of play at the middle school, the now ninth-graders amassed an unblemished record of 49-0.
Those winning ways didn’t veer once they joined the high school program.
This fall, the Braves’ C team finished a perfect 13-0 going up against some of the top competition in the state.
The Braves’ junior varsity and C team rosters included nine freshman and five sophomores combined, with a handful of those players also rotating in during junior varsity contests.
“They came in with high expectations, and you could see that on the court,” Brownstown C team coach Abbi Young said. “When it came down to crunch time, they pushed and fought hard. They didn’t want to lose and that’s huge.”
Two of the biggest regular season wins on the season came against Silver Creek on Sept. 8 and Providence on Sept. 29.
“Providence and Silver Creek were big ones,” freshman Chloe Carlin said. “Providence because the varsity has won state championships. Silver Creek, we hadn’t beaten the JV or C team before.”
On Aug. 20, they emerged champions at the Bloomington South Invitational by downing Seymour, Columbus North and host Bloomington South.
In the Columbus East Invitational on Sept. 10, the Braves defeated Bloomington North, Center Grove and the host school.
“I think that the way we have grown up together, being in all the same classes and playing sports together, we always wanted to win,” Carlin said. “We get along very well on the court. We know how to play with each other. Ever since sixth grade, we’ve been undefeated. This year we just kept winning. We worked towards that goal.””
Young said that it was a total team effort in the wins.
“I can’t pick out one (position) out of all it it,” she said. “It takes an entire team effort to be successful. We always say that passers need to make good passes, setters need to make the passers look good and the hitters need to make the setters look good. That’s kind of our motto.”
The Braves aim to see continued success with some of the players moving up to varsity in 2017.
“Our job is to get them ready for varsity,” Young said. “Developing these skills and familiarizing with how our program works is our job. It’s exciting to see how they will fulfill those roles in the future.”
For the girls, they don’t intend on losing any time soon.
“I think if we just keep working hard with the coaches we have, we can go on and try to be state champions as seniors,” Carlin said.
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Those on Brownstown Central’s 2016 undefeated C-team included: Keeli Darlage, Olivia Hackman, Emily Koch, Addie Wilkerson, Addison Kreiger, Chloe Carlin, Zoey Fountain, Riley Nuss, Halle Hehman, Tayler Garland, Madison Polley, Claire Poulton, Chesney Reynolds and Cassidy Isaacs.
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