It only took one moment for LaPorte senior Reilly Briggs to realize she could thrive as an outside hitter.
“I always saw those girls slamming the ball and I never thought I could do that,” she said. “Until I did it once (in a match). Then I knew I could do it and I wanted to keep doing it.”
Briggs, a Northern Kentucky commit, displayed those offensive abilities as LaPorte earned a road victory over Crown Point 25-10, 25-21, 25-18 in a Thursday night match between two of the top programs in the Duneland Athletic Conference.
Briggs led the way with 19 kills for LaPorte (8-0, 2-0), adding to her team-leading total of 60 through the first seven matches. Briggs said she’s been steadily improving that skill since she arrived at LaPorte.
“I was not good at that until my freshman year,” she said. “Once we got into high school, that’s when the coaches were always telling us what we needed to do and the practices got more intense — in a good way.
“It made me think that I could be good at this.”
LaPorte coach Cassie Holmquest said a quick release is crucial for the 5-foot-10 Briggs.
“She’s left-handed and she swings really fast,” Holmquest said of Briggs. “So the middle block has to really get over there quickly to close on her.”
Briggs had back-to-back kills to help seal the win in Game 2 against Crown Point (3-3, 1-1) after the Slicers dominated the first game.
LaPorte steadily built a 17-12 lead in Game 3 and never looked back to defeat last year’s Class 4A state runner-up.
“The girls played phenomenal,” Holmquest said. “Everyone contributed. It’s good to play against tough competition — Crown Point is a real good team. This will help us down the road as we continue on.”
Crown Point’s lineup looked significantly different from last year’s senior-laden team, and coach Alison Duncan said that’s led to a different approach to matches.
“Last year, we won a lot of games on our hitting and blocking,” Duncan said. “This year, we have to be more defensive. In order for us to win matches, we need to have consistent serve receive. When that was good, we were up, and when it wasn’t good, we were down.”
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Duncan attributed the lopsided loss in Game 1 to what happened at practice Wednesday.
“I had to stop them three times and talk to them about being lazy and how that was going to impact this match,” Duncan said. “But I told them that in Games 2 and 3, they battled. They did a lot of good things. We’re going to continue to get better throughout the season.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.