HIGH SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
Ali Hornung
Sisters Marissa and Ali Hornung
By Daniel Karell | Photos by Tony Bennett
If you’ ve watched Providence High School volleyball over the past six years, there’ s always been two constants: head coach Terri Purichia on the sidelines and a Hornung sister on the court.
First came Jacquie Hornung from 2011 through 2015, followed by Marissa, who is in her fourth and final season of varsity volleyball before heading to Purdue next fall. And the youngster, who may be the best of the three, is freshman Ali, who has dominated the Indiana High School Class 4-A circuit in her first varsity season.
Despite moving up a class after last year’ s state final appearance, the Pioneers are motoring through opponents and look just as primed as ever for a deep playoff run. As of Sept. 17, the Pioneers are 21-1, having not lost a set to a school in Southern Indiana.
“ How can you not be thrilled with how things are going?,” Marissa Hornung said.“ As people have heard, this is the hardest schedule we’ ve played, and to look at the teams we beat and played and how we beat them... I’ m just extremely proud with the way we’ ve handled our schedule. We haven’ t had the weekend off. I’ m very excited and proud and hopeful for what the future is bringing for the postseason.”
An outside hitter with a fierce spike, the second Hornung sibling has developed into one of Southern Indiana’ s all-time best volleyball players. Early in her sophomore year, Marissa committed to Purdue, and she’ s improved her game even more, due to experience and injury.
As a junior last season, Marissa was struggling with shoulder and back injuries, forcing her to become more precise with her blasts from the left side, as opposed to overpowering an opponent like she did as a youngster.
“ That year was a struggle mentally, but that’ s when she improved her craftiness,” Purichia said of Marissa.“ She figured out a way to find holes. She’ s always been good at picking apart a defense, but she wasn’ t able to go up and unload on a ball like she was doing, so she had to get very smart and crafty.”
This season presented another challenge to Marissa. She’ s the lone senior on the squad.
As such, she’ s taken leadership roles for everyone on the team, wearing many different
16 EXTOL SPORTS / OCTOBER 2017