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MUNCIE °®¶¹app“ For the first time in school history, the Carroll Chargers are volleyball state champions.

The Class 4A No. 3 Chargers (33-3) swept No. 2 Yorktown 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-22) at Ball State°®¶¹app™s Worthen Arena on Saturday, avenging a 3-0 loss to the Tigers (33-3) back on Sept. 28.

°®¶¹appœI°®¶¹app™ve been doing this a long time. It°®¶¹app™s only my third year as head coach, but I°®¶¹app™ve been doing this for 20 years. To see a Carroll team pull this out is amazing,°®¶¹app said Carroll coach Pandy Sinish. °®¶¹appœWe°®¶¹app™re good every year, and we just hit a lot of battles on our way to get here. The chance to say that we finally did it, we can prove that we are the best in the state, it gives me chills. I°®¶¹app™m going to have chills all night long.°®¶¹app

It was the second match in a row in which the Chargers beat a top-ranked team they had lost to during the regular season, following a 3-1 victory over No. 1 Hamilton Southeastern in the semistate championship match a week ago. 

"It was surreal. We were like, 'Hey, these are good teams. We're going to have to go out there and play our best,' and that's what we did, so I'm super excited," said junior outside hitter Bailey Sinish. 

Pandy Sinish, who was an assistant coach during Carroll's last trip to the state finals in 2015, said that the Chargers had trouble adjusting to the state championship stage on that previous visit. This time, nothing seemed to rattle Carroll, not the large, raucous crowds on both sides of the gym, nor the Tigers, who entered the state final on a 22-match win streak. 

°®¶¹appœThat°®¶¹app™s the thing I°®¶¹app™m most proud of, they came into this environment with huge crowds, against a great team, and they didn°®¶¹app™t let it rattle them,°®¶¹app Sinish said. °®¶¹appœWe even had some points where things weren°®¶¹app™t great. The dig wasn°®¶¹app™t there. The swing didn°®¶¹app™t go like you wanted. But they didn°®¶¹app™t stop playing hard. That°®¶¹app™s huge.°®¶¹app

A kill by sophomore Elli Oskey gave Carroll a 24-22 lead in the first set and brought up the first set point of the night. A Tigers kill and a Carroll attack error tied the set at 24, but back-to-back kills by junior middle blocker Lola Sasse and freshman outside hitter Katelyn Peters locked up the first set for the Chargers, 26-24.

Carroll narrowly led much of the second set, twice going up by four points. A kill by Bailey Sinish gave the Chargers a 24-21 lead and brought up set point, and while freshman defensive specialist Cala Haffner had a service error on the next point Sinish came up with another kill to win the second set 25-22.

Yorktown led 13-11 at the media timeout in the third set, but the Chargers won the next three points to take a 14-13 lead. Soon after, they won five straight points to take a 20-16 advantage, delighting the Carroll crowd and forcing the Tigers to call timeout. A kill by Sinish, her 15th of the evening, won the final set 25-22 for the Chargers, giving them their first state championship trophy in three trips to the state finals.

"We all came together, and I feel like we were all confident in our skills," said senior Chloe Herschberger, who is the team's lone senior. "And it was really exciting to finally beat Yorktown."

Sinish also led the Chargers with 11 digs and Haffner had 10. Junior setter Sophia Gisslen had a team-high 31 assists. The Chargers had seven blocks as a team, while Yorktown had just one.

"Our middles work really hard. Middles don't always get a lot of love, but they work really hard across that net to close seams, to get some blocks," Pandy Sinish said. "That's huge for us, and that allows us to help us set up our defense around them better."

With just one senior graduating, the Chargers had barely left the court with their championship trophy before waiting supporters brought up the prospect of a repeat.

"Chloe is an amazing girl, she's an awesome teammate, she's a great player and amazing leader, so we're going to miss her a ton," Pandy Sinish said. "But to get here and do it once will give them a lot of confidence that they'll the opportunity to do it next year. Obviously, it's not going to be easy, we're not in an easy division, but it gives them that confidence that they can do it again and hopefully believe in that all year long."