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BY TRAVIS DAVID

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With the regular season winding down, local teams were busy on the court this past week.

Here is a rundown of how teams fared …

SHAKAMAK — The Lady Lakers dropped a pair of matches but faced challenging tasks in both. The daunting week started with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 loss to Class 4A Terre Haute North.

Two nights later, Shakamak’s goal of winning a Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference championship was dashed away with a 25-8, 25-18, 25-15 loss against Linton-Stockton. The match was the first conference defeat of the season for the Lakers (5-1).

The pair of losses dropped the Lakers to 15-7 overall on the season.

In Tuesday’s setback to the Patriots, leading attacker Brylee Faulk was shutdown by the visitors. Faulk was limited to just four kills in the loss, more than half of her season average.

Bralyn Calvert led the way with six kills while Jordyn Boram added five. 

As a team, Shakamak was only able to put away 21 shots compared to 50 by the Patriots.

“I thought we did a good job of keeping balls in play with some nice saves, but unfortunately the ball didn’t drop enough on their side for us to get points,” Lakers’ coach Emeral Goff said.

Madelyn Kennett (13), Jama Ewers (11), Faulk (11) and Peyton Gambille combined to record 45 digs.

Two nights later, the Miners showed they are still kings of the conference and did not allow the Lakers to get comfortable.

Goff mentioned her team struggled with the serving by the Miners.

“We had a very hard time on serve-receive and I feel like that was our biggest problem area,” the Lakers’ coach stated. “We also had some trouble stopping a couple of their top hitters.”

For the second straight match, Shakamak was doubled up on attacks. The Miners put away 40 shots compared to 21 by the hosts.

Faulk led the attack with seven, while Ayanna Clark (4), Boram (3) and Isla Kaufman combined to put away 10 shots.

Faulk added a pair of aces and recorded five digs, while Kennett (7) and Ava McCrary (6) combined to prevent 13 shots from hitting the court.

Ewers and Jaedyn Boram handed out a total of 18 assists, led by Ewers’ nine.

The night was not a total loss for the Lakers and the community as nearly $2,000 was raised in the annual Pink Out Night.

“It was great to see our communities come together for a great cause,” Goff said of the night. 

SULLIVAN — The Lady Arrows started the week by extending their season-best winning streak to six games, but finished with a pair of tough losses.

Sullivan picked up a 25-13, 25-23, 25-22 win at conference opponent South Putnam on Monday.

The Lady Arrows’ streak was snapped three nights later in a 25-15, 25-18, 24-26, 25-16 setback against Linton-Stockton before a 24-26, 26-24, 26-24, 25-23 loss to Cascade on Saturday.

With the three matches, Sullivan is 15-7 overall for the year.

In Monday’s win, Jacie Wilson and Isabelle Harris combined for 24 kills, led by Wilson’s match-high 16. Destiny Gaines and Rachel Eslinger both put away five shots.

Eslinger also served up six aces, passed out 33 assists and recorded six digs.

Kensley Wiltermood (21) and Izzy Jenkins (16) combined for 37 digs in the win.

Against the Miners, Wilson once again led the offensive attack with 19 more kills while Gaines (8) and Harris (7) combined for 15 put aways.

Ella Warrick recorded a match-best 21 kills to lead the Miners.

Eslinger passed out 38 more helpers, while Wiltermood recorded a team-high 25 digs to lead the Arrows’ defense.

In Saturday’s loss, Wilson wrapped up her monster week by putting away 16 more shots, once again leading the Arrows’ attack.

Harris completed her strong week as well with 13 more put aways, while Jenkins fell one kill shy of reaching double digits.

Wiltermood (26) and Jenkins (18) combined for 47 digs in the loss, while Avari Kelley and Jaylen McCammon prevented nine and seven shots from hitting the court, respectively.

Eslinger recorded a double-double with 40 assists and 25 digs.

NORTH KNOX — The Warriors opened the week with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 win over Bloomfield before running into the buzz saw that is Barr-Reeve on Thursday.

In Tuesday’s non-conference win, the Warriors proved to be too much to handle from the service line. 

Led by six from Malli Lyons, North Knox served up a season-best 23 aces in the win.

Alex McKinley and Keely McMillin recorded five aces apiece while Javen Miller finished with a trio.

Miller led the offensive attack with seven kills while McMillin (4) and McKinley (3) combined for seven put aways.

Miller (27) and Lyons (23) prevented 50 attacks from hitting the court while Mady Nieb added 14 digs in the win.

In Thursday’s loss to the perennial power Vikings, Miller (3) and Marissa Petelle (2) combined for five kills while Lyons recorded 14 digs.

NORTH CENTRAL — The Ladybirds dropped a trio of matches against Hutsonville-Palestine (Ill.), White River Valley and Vincennes Rivet.

In Monday’s 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 25-22 loss to Hutsonville-Palestine, Maycie Dreiman continued her improved play with a team-high 12 kills, while Shelby Seay added 11 put aways at the net. Jalyn Davidson and Hayden Crooks both recorded five kills.

Sam Secrest finished with a double-double by handing out 28 assists to go along with 26 digs.

Crooks (22), Seay (20) and Alyssa Goodman (11) combined for 53 digs.

In Wednesday’s 25-20, 25-13, 25-15 setback against conference rival White River Valley, Dreiman (4), Davidson (4), Crooks (3) and Seay (3) combined for 14 kills. Secrest handed out 13 more assists.

The Ladybirds wrapped up the week with a 25-6, 25-13, 25-14 loss against the Patriots. 

Secest recorded 14 digs in the loss while Crooks led the offense with three kills.

North Central is 3-19 on the season.

“The girls are all working hard,” first-year coach Anna Orsburn said. “We have three more games left in the regular season as we prepare for the sectional. We know what we need to work on.”

DUGGER UNION — A thrilling five-set win against Eminence on Thursday was sandwiched between a pair of losses to Vincennes Rivet (Tuesday) and Medora (Saturday).

The 25-16, 22-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10 win over the Eels was the fourth win of the season for the Bulldogs.

No stats on the match were provided.

Thank you to McKinley Seamless Guttering for the sponsorship of this story

NOTE: Sectional pairings will be released by the IHSAA Sunday evening.