By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School lost their first Patoka Lake Athletic Conference game of the season on Thursday to Springs Valley, with both teams entering the matchup undefeated in the PLAC, vying for the conference championship.
The Blackhawks were victorious in four sets, beating the Bluejackets in the first two sets 25-23 and 25-15, before Mitchell was able to battle back and grab the third set 25-17, eventually falling in the fourth 25-15.
“They’re an outstanding team. They’ve been that way for a number of years now and I knew they were going to be good,” Bluejackets’ head coach Scott Saunders said about their opponent on Thursday. “I thought our kids came and fought tonight and I’m happy with that. I didn’t have a bit of a problem with our effort. They just executed better than we did in some critical spots.”
Mitchell’s Gracyn Thompson and Jenna Allen accounted for 21 of the team’s 38 kills on the night, Thompson with a team-high 11 and Allen with 10.
“Jenna Allen, our freshman outside hitter, I thought she really attacked the ball well, and I thought Gracyn Thompson really attacked the ball well tonight,” said Saunders. “Those two have been coming along. They’re not option one and two, because, obviously we go to Brooke [Reynolds] a lot and we go to Jocelyn [Allen] a lot, but those two stepping up and being aggressive against a good team was a good thing to see. So, if they can continue that play, it makes us a stronger group and that’s what we want”
With this loss, the Bluejackets fall to 2-1 in the PLAC on the year, 16-6 overall, with Springs Valley improving to 18-1 on the season, remaining undefeated in conference play at 3-0.
With both still atop the conference standings, the final PLAC games of the year, two remaining for the Blackhawks, including a battle with Paoli (17-4) and three for Mitchell will determine the eventual champion.
“We still have three to go. That’s why I told our kids, all we can do now is continue to take care of our conference games and if we do that we can finish no worse than second, which is still good,” Saunders said.
The Bluejackets will next compete on Saturday when they’ll travel to Borden to compete in tournament play against North Harrison (11-4), Corydon Central (3-10) and Charlestown (10-5).
Match Stats
Mitchell
Attacking
| # | Athlete Name | SP | K | K/S | Kill % | Att | E | Hit % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 8 | 2.0 | 25.8 | 31 | 4 | .129 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 11 | 2 | -.182 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | 33.3 | 30 | 2 | .267 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 16.7 | 12 | 2 | .000 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 11 | 2.8 | 39.3 | 28 | 4 | .250 |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 7 | 1.8 | 38.9 | 18 | 3 | .222 |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 38 | 9.5 | 29.0 | 131 | 17 | .160 |
Mitchell
Serving
| # | Athlete Name | SP | A | A/S | Ace % | SA | SE | Serv % | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0 | 0 |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 0.3 | 7.1 | 14 | 2 | 85.7 | 6 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 14 | 1 | 92.9 | 4 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 1 | 0.3 | 10.0 | 10 | 2 | 80.0 | 3 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 16.7 | 12 | 4 | 66.7 | 4 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 0.3 | 11.1 | 9 | 1 | 88.9 | 5 |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | .0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 0.3 | 5.9 | 17 | 3 | 82.4 | 9 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 6 | 1.5 | 7.6 | 79 | 13 | 83.5 | 31 |
Mitchell
Blocking
| # | Athlete Name | SP | BS | BA | Tot Blks | B/S | BE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0.8 | 0 |
Mitchell
Digging
| # | Athlete Name | SP | D | DE | D/S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.0 |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 12 | 0 | 3.0 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 13 | 0 | 3.3 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 10 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.0 |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 16 | 0 | 4.0 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 62 | 0 | 15.5 |
Mitchell
Ball Handling
| # | Athlete Name | SP | Ast | Ast/S | BHA | BHE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 32 | 8.0 | 95 | 0 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 1 | 0.3 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0 |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 19 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 38 | 9.5 | 128 | 0 |
Mitchell
Serve Receiving
| # | Athlete Name | SP | R | RE | R/S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rhaegan Egli (Sr) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 6 | Jocelyn Allen (Sr) | 4 | 23 | 5 | 5.8 |
| 7 | Jayden Allen (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 8 | Jenna Allen (Fr) | 4 | 22 | 5 | 5.5 |
| 9 | Brooke Reynolds (Sr) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.8 |
| 14 | Taylor Lee (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 16 | Gracyn Thompson (Jr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 22 | Jillian Bond (Sr) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 27 | Page Mullis (Sr) | 4 | 21 | 1 | 5.3 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 69 | 12 | 17.3 |
