On Monday, April 21, the Royals faced off against Cathedral High School, the No. 2-ranked team in Indiana. In the first set, the Royals fell behind by 11 points, prompting Coach Wes Marchione to call three timeouts in an effort to reset the team. Early on, the Royals struggled with communication and allowed too many balls to drop, putting them at a significant disadvantage. 

However, the team showed resilience in the second set. They tightened up their communication and rallied back, narrowing the deficit from 11 points to just 2. The improvement was noticeable and the Royals started to find their rhythm. We spoke with Cash Untersee, who led the team in kills that game. Untersee currently has 131 kills this season and is ranked in the top 20 in Indiana.

“I feel like coming out of the gate in the first set, we didn’t have enough eagerness to play such an opponent. We were too shocked to be playing them—it felt like we shouldn’t even be playing this team because we were unworthy of their competition. At the start of the second set, we started off hot, and that was because of a great mental shift,” Untersee said. “We now knew that we could compete with any team in Indiana and beat them if we played our best ball. We almost won the second set, pushing it to 26-24, but fell short due to our own errors. Next time, as a team, we need to play knowing that we can compete with anyone who is against us. In volleyball, it is rare that another team beats you; it is commonly your own team who beats themselves.”  

Heading into the third set, the question was: could HSE complete the comeback? Despite their efforts, the Royals ultimately fell short, losing the final set by 9 points and giving Cathedral the win. 

Though the outcome wasn’t in their favor, the Royals put up a strong fight against one of the toughest teams in the state. With heads held high, they’re already looking ahead, determined to come back stronger the next time they play Cathedral.