Roncalli wins regional championship. 'I can't wait to spend another week with these girls'

GREENFIELD -- Roncalli volleyball knew it had to come out swinging. Literally.

The Royals were taking on the Yorktown Tigers. Both teams had already played once earlier today; Roncalli swept Avon, and Yorktown won a five-set thriller against Cathedral. They were both tired, maybe more so Yorktown.

With extra time to rest, Roncalli had a simple plan: Shock the Tigers. And in the first set, they did, winning 25-20.

"There were nerves," Roncalli head coach Christina Erazmus said. "I like like our first match of the day we came out strong, so we just got those jitters out. We were all business that first set, and we just worked really hard defensively. Our passing was great, so it was just more like, 'Keep it quick, and let's use all of our hitters."

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The Royals' hitters were headed by outside hitter and Oregon commit Logan Bell, who seemed unstoppable on the left side of the court. Bell played all six rotations, frequently contributing kills from the back row with her scrappy defense alongside libero Aly Kirkhoff.

The plan started to go haywire in the second set, though, and frustration started to set in for the Royals. First, miscommunication led to a lost point, as the Royals stood around a soaring ball on their side and watched it fall to the ground, no one jumping to get it. Next, there was a flurry of controversial calls; Roncalli thought Yorktown touched a ball that the officials deemed out, and then the Royals contested a call that they had feet over the line.

Bell struggled in that set too, which Roncalli dropped, 11-25. It got to the point that Erazmus had to take her best hitter out in order for her to calm her nerves.

"For a girl like her, that was just ammo to play better," Erazmus said. "And she did. She went out there and she just made smart decisions. She's such a smart player, and she has so many tools in her toolbox and she's worked so hard to be that good of a player."

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Being the player she is, Bell knew what to do to shake it off.

"I really just relied on my teammates," Bell said. "I know that they're there to pick me up, and they did a good job of helping us come back into the third set, and I owe it all to them."

After that, it was smooth sailing for the Royals. Roncalli won the next two sets to take down Yorktown, the 2022 Class 4A runner-up, 3-1 (25-20, 11-25, 25-17, 25-18) to become regional champions for the second time in three years.

The Royals (30-3) will play Castle (33-3) at Jasper next Saturday (approx. 5:30 p.m.). Ironically enough, Castle was the team that knocked Roncalli out of semistate two years ago, becoming the state runner-up. Roncalli was swept by Castle in 2021. This year, Erazmus want to turn the tide.

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"Hopefully, this year, it's a little bit different, and we come home with another trophy and we move on to state," Erazmus said. "I think if we play with the intensity that we played with today, really work this week to get mentally tough, work hard, and put a good product out there, we can come up with another trophy."

And the Royals get another week of playing together.

"It makes me so excited," Bell said of going to semistate. "I can't wait to spend another week with these girls."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA volleyball: Roncalli beats Yorktown in regional championship