BROWNSTOWN

It didn’t matter that the skirmish went past 10 p.m. on a school night.

The crowd wasn’t leaving.

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When the final point — a kill by hitter Addie Wilkerson — bounced off the hardwood floor, the gymnasium at Brownstown Central High school erupted, and the Braves’ bench cleared to celebrate.

The Braves picked up a massive 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-15 Mid-Southern Conference win over Silver Creek in a battle of must-see, top-10, Class 3A volleyball programs on Thursday night.

This one meant a lot to the Braves (15-2, 4-0 MSC).

Last year, Brownstown played Silver Creek — who is coming off back-to-back MSC titles — four times. They didn’t win one of those matches.

The toughest loss came in the Sectional 30 finals, as the Braves fell in five sets to the Dragons.

Before Thursday, the Dragons (12-2, 5-1 MSC) hadn’t lost a conference match since 2015.

“It is a long time coming for us,” Brownstown coach Jennifer Shade said. “What is neat for us is that we had a game plan, we stuck to it, and it worked. It’s good for the girls execute what we are working on in practice and see that it works. We’re all gaining more confidence in each other.”

Before the match started, Shade said the kids were prepared.

“It is all about coming ready to play. I could tell from the moment I came into the gym that our kids were ready to play,” she said. “They wanted this bad. When you’re hungry, you go out and get the win.”

The first two sets proved a back-and-forth affair.

Neither team gained an advantage of greater than four points in the first set.

Tied at 23, an illegal formation call was reversed which would have given BCHS the lead. The Dragons then won the next points.

The final point went to Silver Creek on a call by an official that a Braves’ player interfered with the net.

The second set was also close, as the lead never grew to over three points.

After tying the score six times, kills by Wilkerson, Kayla Guthrie and Keeli Darlage put the Braves up 23-19. The team went on to close it at 25-21.

The Braves constructed a 13-7 lead in the third set before the Dragons rallied to bring the score to 18-17. Brownstown then won five straight points on serves by Heidi Booher before finishing the set at 25-19.

In a the decisive fourth set, the teams kept it within two points until the Braves went on a 5-0 run, highlighted by a kill by Kendra McCory and block by Booher, to put BCHS up 19-13. Leading 20-15, the Braves put together five straight winning points, on four serves by Madisen Polly, to claim the match.

On offense, McCory had 16 kills and Darlage added 15. The Braves went 119-for-141 on hits with 52 total kills.

Reagan Nuss led the Braves with 45 assists and libero Brooklyn Snodgrass totaled 19 digs.

While she felt like the team could have won in three, Shade was glad the team was able to finish the match in four.

“We knew that we needed to win that fourth one,” she said. “When you go into a fifth, playing to 15, it is really a toss up. The best team doesn’t always win. We told the kids to keep the momentum on our side and win the ball game. We did, and that’s one of our goals in practice: Finishing the game.”

Shade said she was pleased with the team’s aggression.

“Against a team that plays that good of defense, that also has that many good hitters, you have to play aggressive,” Shade said. “I told them we needed to keep the heat on them. We needed to serve aggressive and hit aggressive, otherwise it would be too easy for them to hit hard back at us. I felt like we did, especially in the third and fourth.”

The Braves can now run the MSC table. They are the only team left that is undefeated in MSC play, with Eastern, Salem, Austin and Scottsburg left on the schedule.

Since 1998 the Braves have won 15 MSC titles under Shade. The Braves last took the conference crown in 2014.

“We set goals at the beginning of the season and one of our goals is to win the MSC,” Shade said. “We’re not done yet…there are some teams that we still need to beat, but this was a big step in reaching that goal.”

While the Braves are happy with the win, they know that they will likely face the Dragons again down the road.

“We will see Silver Creek again,” Shade said. “Possibly in a tournament in New Albany and again at sectional. Hopefully this win sets the tone, and lets them know we are here and a good team.

“It’s just an awesome feeling. I’m excited for the kids. They now know what it feels like to win a huge game. I want them to feel this again.”