By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

ARCANUM — The ninth seeded Lady Blackhawks had their season come to an end on Oct. 16 in the Division IV Southwest Sectional Tournament as they were bounced out of the playoffs by the tenth seed Covington 3-0.

Head coach Nancy Whitted said this team was one of the better groups she has worked with. They just played out of sorts in this match.

“Probably one of the best groups that I have ever worked with,” Whitted said. “Really wasn’t them tonight. It’s not what I’ve seen them do before. Usually they come scratching and crawling back.”

It was a close set to start out the match. During the first set, it was tied 17-17. Both teams couldn’t grab control of the set. The serving of the Lady Buccs provided the spark they needed to win the set.

Covington went on a 8-2 run to win the first set, 25-19.

The second set started out close as well. But this time, Covington grabbed a 14-11 lead early. Once they were able to get a sizeable lead, they would run with set.

Mississinawa Valley did all they could to try and gain their footing. The Lady Blackhawks were able to over power the Lady Buccs defense at times, but couldn’t string together a run.

Covington won the second set, 25-18.

The momentum Covington created shifted into the third set. They had an 18-9 lead over Mississinawa Valley and looked like they would cruise to an easy win.

The Lady Blackhawks were able to show some fight as they started to string together a run. The offense was able to be more consistent and the defense was able to keep the ball up.

Covington shrugged off the Mississinawa Valley run and closed out the set, 25-17, to complete the sweep. The Lady Blackhawks could only hang in for so long before the Covington offense started to get into a rhythm.

The loss marks the end of three seniors’ volleyball careers. Brenna Price, Makenna Guillozet and Kenzea Townsend all played their last volleyball game for Mississinawa Valley.

Whitted said those three players are going to be missed by her and the program.

“All three are key players, they were this year. Definitely going to miss them for sure, their leadership and their skills are going to be missed,” Whitted said.

The bulk of the team will return. Most of the returnees are sophomores and one freshman compared to the three juniors returning.

Whitted said there will be time to figure out what the roster will look like next year. But, the team will have some youth filling in at some key positions.

“I have a lot of sophomores and juniors that are coming back. But a lot of sophomores. Probably going to have maybe a freshman or two on the varsity team,” Whitted said.

Mississinawa Valley ends the 2023 season with a 15-8 record and an 8-3 conference record.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]