Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley volleyball team needed to be strong from the first serve on Monday if it was going to defeat Class 1A No. 3 Tecumseh. In matchups like that, the margins are too slim to quickly correct course after a puttering open. That, however, is what the Blackhawks tried to do. They got down by double digits to the Braves in the first set and that set the tone for the entire evening. They raced back to make the first respectable, falling 25-20, and even took the second set 25-16, but 25-23 and 26-24 losses in the third and fourth sets respectively put Tecumseh on top. It was a disappointing result for the Blackhawks and it proved to them that in order to beat that caliber of competition they have to be spot-on from the start. “I don’t know what the girls thought was going to happen when they came into the gym today. It was number one versus number three and the whole ranking thing is what it is — those numbers can be reversed in a heartbeat — but when you come in with a slow start and constantly have to play from behind it just kind of domino-effects,” Springs Valley coach Erin Carnes said. “Every single error is magnified and it just keeps building and building and building. Right off the bat our frustration levels went to the max and we don’t play well when we come out that way.” The reason for Springs Valley’s second-set recovery was a simple one: the Blackhawks stopped beating themselves. They went back out on the floor, applied some pressure to Tecumseh, and looked like the better team for the entirety of the set. “We had I think 16 errors coming out of set one, so I told them to cut that in half and up our kill ratio and see what happens. That’s exactly what we did,” Carnes said. “Tecumseh started making the mistakes, we were playing on those and it was a total flip of the scores.” Just as the beginning of the match created a domino effect, so did Springs Valley’s passing. It wasn’t an outright negative, but it wasn’t at its normal level either and that created a chain reaction. Lower quality passing makes things harder on the setters, which makes things harder on the hitters, which makes things easier on the other side of the net and then ultimately comes around to make things harder when trying to block and pass again. “It wasn’t like any one thing just killed us, but our passing wasn’t the best and it starts there for us,” Carnes said. “On that first contact we have to be better, that’s got to stay at a certain level so that we can run two or three hitters consistently.” In years past this sort of loss is one that the Blackhawks would've had and easier time shrugging off, knowing that Tecumseh is one of the elite programs in the region and they wouldn't see the Braves again until the next season. This year is different though. These specific Blackhawks have their sights set even higher than usual and hold themselves to an even higher standard. On top of that, Tecumseh’s back down in Class 1A now, meaning that if Springs Valley wants to win a regional championship and more, it’ll very likely have to beat Tecumseh at some point. With the state tournament just weeks away, matches like Monday’s are the kind that the Blackhawks have to start winning, particularly when they show throughout that they’re more than capable of doing so. “It’s very frustrating to see (those flashes in a loss) right now. Early on I could have taken that, but where we are now as a team and where we are in the season with just two weeks to play, those aren’t the types of games you want to see right now,” Carnes said. “That team was very good, but we had moments in the third and fourth where we could’ve won those sets. We had leads late and just made some boneheaded plays. “We had an opportunity to win and a year or two ago I probably would have been ecstatic to play them that close, but tonight it stings because I felt like we were still the better team.” The loss was the first one for Springs Valley (17-4, 4-0 PLAC) on its home floor this season, ending a 14-match home winning streak that dated back to last season and lasted more than a year. The Blackhawks will compete in the Class A Showdown at Blue River Valley on Saturday, getting to face more of the best teams in the state, before returning home to try to start a new streak next Tuesday against Loogootee. As they do that they’ll use Monday’s disappointment to push them forward, hoping to continue improving so that if and when they see the Braves again they’ll be ready. “They were upset and I liked that. It shows that they care about it and they wanted this one,” Carnes said. “They weren’t coming in timid, they really weren’t even though they played like it out of the gate. I don’t think they were in a place where some past teams would have gotten to where they were beat before they even got in here. “I think they’ll use this as fuel because that was a game we should have won. There are certain teams on record that you know it’s probably going to be an uphill battle like when we play Providence, but this was a game that I felt we were matched up pretty evenly and those are the games that we have to win.” TECUMSEH 3, SPRINGS VALLEY 1 Class 1A No. 3 Tecumseh 25 16 25 26 — 3 Class 1A No. 1 Springs Valley 20 25 23 24 — 1 Springs Valley: Maddie Carnes 15 kills, 22 assists, 18 digs, 1 ace; Leigh Carnes 9 kills, 21 assists, 11 digs, 2 blocks; Bella Nottger 8 kills, 2 digs, 2 aces, 3 blocks; Tynley Kluesner 6 kills, 15 digs, 2 blocks; Alayna Denbo 4 kills, 3 blocks; Brynne Buchanan 3 kills, 8 digs; Molly Tucker 11 digs, 2 aces.