.png)
B. Berndt: 25 kills; Overmyer: 28 digs, kill on match point
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Culver volleyball team celebrates with the sectional trophy following its 25-16, 27-25, 24-26, 14-25, 18-16 win over Triton in the Class 1A, Sectional 51 final at Culver’s John R. Nelson Gymnasium Saturday.
CULVER — The Culver volleyball team retreated to their home locker room after the fourth set of their Class 1A, Sectional 50 final against Triton Saturday night.
It was time for a family meeting.
Andrea Berndt, the coach who got these players together to play organized volleyball when they were kindergartners, kept the message simple: The next time we walk into this locker room, we will be sectional champions.
Determination can go a long way, especially if you have the thunderous right arm of Brynn Berndt. Culver lived out their coach’s wishes as they pulled out a 25-16, 27-25, 24-26, 14-25, 18-16 win in a marathon match at John R. Nelson Gymnasium that lasted two hours and five minutes.
It finally ended when Livi Overmyer put away a Triton overpass, and elated Culver players piled on top of each other near the net.
“It feels amazing!” coach Berndt exclaimed.
She was asked if she ever dreamed of this moment.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” coach Berndt said. “We were talking about memories, and just how some of these refs have reffed for the Zone League when the girls were in second grade. So we were talking about how long and how much work we have put in to get to this point.”
Culver improved to 27-5 and will play Marquette Catholic at 1 p.m. this Saturday in a regional.
Said Brynn Berndt: “Oh my gosh! It’s the greatest thing ever honestly.”
The sectional title is Culver’s first since 2011. Culver has never won a volleyball regional.
They will host Marquette Catholic in a regional at 1 p.m. this Saturday.
“I can’t even explain how this feels,” senior setter Ashley Pugh, who had 44 assists, said. “It’s so exciting, especially being my senior year.”
The Culver volleyball team celebrates after athletic director Mike Zehner hands them the sectional trophy following a 25-16, 27-25, 24-26, 14-25, 18-16 win over Triton in the Class 1A, Sectional 51 final at John R. Nelson Gymnasium Saturday. The sectional title is the fifth in school history and the first since 2011. Culver hosts Marquette Catholic in a one-match regional at 1 p.m. this Saturday.
If it is always at its darkest before the dawn, Culver’s darkest might have been when coach Berndt called timeout with Triton holding a match point at 14-13.
“We had talked to the girls quite a bit about trusting themselves when the ball is going to come to them, and they want the ball to come to them,” coach Berndt said when asked to relive the timeout. “A lot of positive self-talk, and the girls saying, ‘I want this ball. It’s going to come to me, and then I’m going to rely on my fundamentals to put it down and do what I can.’ We’ve done a lot of work mentally and physically in those situations.”
Said Pugh: “I was freaking out, but I knew my team had my back, and I knew we could get it done. I knew we could pull it out.”
A Tyra King solo block on Avery Viers slowed down Triton’s momentum, and Brynn Berndt threw a deep tip to the Triton back row, and the point ended with Viers tipping into the net. Match point averted.
“It was hard,” King said of blocking Viers and Mya Davis, who combined for 50 kills. “I had to get up there, and I had to get my timing right and get up there. It was really difficult, but we pulled through.”
Ashley Pugh followed with an ace, but Viers won a joust at the left side of the Triton net. It was 15-all.
Triton’s Clara Doll was called for a double hit to put Culver ahead 16-15, but a Viers tip to the middle of the court tied it at 16.
Viers then hit long to give Culver their third match point.
Meredith Gordon served to Doll, who put too much weight on her pass. Instead of getting to setter Allie Westafer, it floated over the net. Overmyer was waiting.
Brynn Berndt finished with 25 kills, 11 digs and three blocks. King had 14 kills, five digs and a block.
“It feels so amazing,” Gordon said. “I have no words. We just worked so hard. It feels great.”
Culver opened the match with a 10-2 run. Overmyer had an ace to make it 2-0, and an Ashlynn Berndt ace capped a five-point serving run. Two Brynn Berndt kills, including a crosscourt kill from the opposite side, capped the surge. The lead would eventually reach 21-10 and 22-11 before Brynn Berndt would terminate the set on a kill.
Culver then led 20-14 at one point in Game 2, and they still had three set points at 24-21 after Brynn Berndt pummeled an attack to the back row.
But a Savannah Hawley kill and back-to-back aces from Davis erased the deficit.
Then came another Brynn Berndt kill. Pugh and Brynn Berndt could not connect on a set. It was 25-25.
Then came another Berndt kill off the Triton block. Davis then went wide down the left sideline on set point, and Culver was up 2-0.
Brynn Berndt repeatedly ripped kills through Triton’s block, which included the 6-0 Davis, the 5-10 Kenadee Howard and the 5-8 Viers. Brynn Berndt said she would often “tool” many of her attacks where she would purposely try to hit off the hands of the Triton front wall.
“They have huge blockers honestly,” Brynn Berndt said. “The biggest thing for me tonight was tooling off them, making it ricochet off their arms.”
Triton had leads of 12-6, 14-8, 15-9 and 16-10 in Game 3 before a King kill and a King ace and a Viers tip error cut the lead to 19-18. An Overmyer stuff on Davis and a missed flying tip from Davis tied it at 21.
Triton went back up 23-21 before Pugh and Brynn Berndt ganged up on a Davis attack for a stuff, and Davis went long on a kill.
A back row roll shot from Viers plus some apparent Culver miscommunication gave Triton a set point. Brynn Berndt erased it.
But then Kenadee Howard rolled a hook shot that floated in front of the baseline to give Triton a 25-24 lead. A deep tip from Viers after Howard blocked a Culver tip try got Triton within 2-1.
Viers had four consecutive kills as Triton built a 11-6 lead in Game 4.
Culver would hang within 19-14 on a King tip after a Pugh set tight to the net, but Viers had four more kills as Triton would close on a 6-0 run.
It was time for Culver to head to the locker room.
“Well, we went into the locker room, and we all decided collectively that we weren’t coming back in there losers,” Brynn Berndt said. “We have five seniors out here, and we weren’t ready to be done. That was my motto for today: I’m not done.”
Culver had played Triton twice earlier this season. They lost in four sets at Triton on Sept. 5 in their Hoosier North meeting before Culver won 20-18 in the third set in a best-of-three match at the Triton Invitational on Sept. 14. Berndt quipped that the matches with Triton “make my stomach sick.”
“It was just a mindset change,” coach Berndt said. “And those are things that we talk about all the time. You just have to come back out and reset and refocus. This is what good competition and championships are made of. And it can go back and forth, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Triton did an amazing job tonight. I’m glad we came out on top.”
Triton also knocked Culver out of the 2022 and 2023 sectionals.
“It can be pretty difficult, but we like to try and fight until we can’t anymore,” King said.
Gordon was asked what it was like playing in such an intense match.
“It’s just like the crowd’s cheering, and you really don’t hear anyone except your teammates on the court. I mean, it’s just so crazy.”
The win was also seemingly a tribute to Berndt as a coach.
“She’s meant so much,” Pugh said. “She’s like a mom to me. She’s like a coach to me. She’s everything. She’s always there for me whenever I need her.”
Brynn Berndt mentioned that all the players look at her as a mother figure. That this would be the one year that she would get to coach both her actual daughters – Ashlynn is a freshman libero who finished with 13 digs and 28 serves received – made this extra special.
“Tyra King’s a big one for us,” Brynn Berndt said. “She loves my mom. They basically have the same relationship that I do.”
Semifinals
Culver advanced to the sectional final with a 25-11, 25-22, 25-14 win over South Central in the semifinals. Berndt had 23 kills and seven digs, and Ashlynn Berndt and Overmyer had 15 digs each. Pugh had 34 assists. King contributed eight kills and two digs.
Culver avenged their lone home loss during the regular season with the win. South Central had won three consecutive Class 2A sectionals before being dropped down to 1A this year.
Triton reached the final with a 25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 25-7 win over Elkhart Christian in the second semifinal.
Culver def. Triton, 25-16, 27-25, 24-26, 14-25, 18-16 (final)
CULVER STATS
Ashley Pugh – 4 kills, 3 aces, 44 assists, 12 digs, 1 block; Ashlynn Berndt – 1 kill, 2 aces, 1 assist, 13 digs; Brynn Berndt – 25 kills, 1 ace, 11 digs, 3 blocks; Gracie Milam – 11 digs; Hayden Lute – 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block; Livi Overmyer – 6 kills, 1 ace, 28 digs, 1 block; Meredith Gordon – 2 kills, 6 digs; Tyra King – 14 kills, 1 ace, 5 digs, 1 block
Culver def. South Central (Union Mills), 25-11, 25-22, 25-14 (semifinal)
CULVER STATS
Ashley Pugh – 2 aces, 34 assists, 8 digs; Ashlynn Berndt – 2 aces, 2 assists, 15 digs; Brynn Berndt – 23 kills, 7 digs, 4 blocks; Gracie Milam – 10 digs; Hayden Lute – 1 kill, 3 digs, 1 block; Livi Overmyer – 4 kills, 15 digs, 1 block; Meredith Gordon – 4 kills, 3 digs, 1 block; Sophie Grossman-Norris – 1 ace, 4 digs; Tyra King – 8 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs, 1 block
