By RYAN WALKER
Despite a first-set victory, the Norwell volleyball team lost in four sets (3-1) to Woodlan Thursday night at The Castle.
The Knights (3-2) came into the night swinging at an undefeated Warriors (5-0) squad, taking the first set 25-21. Woodlan entered the season with receiving votes in the IHSVCA preseason rankings.
In the second set, both teams continued to play even, but Norwell had a slight lead for the most part. The Warriors, though, took a late 18-16 advantage and never looked back — and eventually winning 25-19 to even the score 1-1.
The third set is where the match got out of hand for Norwell. Head coach Kayla Hunter needed two timeouts as her team held a 7-0 deficit, which turned into 12-0 and 15-0 before a point was given on a self-imposed Woodlan serve that hit the net.
Hunter said after the game that she thought her Knights came out strong and played more aggressively, but errors caught up to them by the third set, and Woodlan swooped in.
“I thought in the first we were way more on the attack, and we didn’t really let errors or their attacks really get to us,” Hunter said. “We just shook it off and got to the next one. After that, we kind of hung on to errors a little bit more, and we made a lot of errors toward the end.”
The score ended at 25-4, and it looked as if the fourth set would come easy, but the Knights got their swagger back.
Woodlan head coach Jerrid Rydell found his team down 12-9 and used a timeout with the Knights steaming with confidence again. However, what was said in that huddle clearly worked, as Woodlan would go on an 8-3 swing and take the lead.
Toward the end of the fourth, Norwell got closer, being down 22-20, but eventually fell with Woodlan scoring the last three points of the match.
“I thought we came out strong, and then I was pretty disappointed,” Hunter said. “Granted, (Woodlan’s) a solid team that has some hitters that could really put the ball away, but I don’t think we showed our best, especially towards the end.”
Woodlan was Norwell’s third preseason-ranked opponent in just the five games to start the regular season. The Knights defeated Heritage in a 3-2 comeback, who has also receiving votes while falling to 1A’s No. 1 Blackhawk 3-0.
There’s value in playing a tough schedule as the Northeast 8 Conference has three ranked schools, including 3A power Bellmont, who has been to and has won state titles in recent history. Even though the IHSVCA ranks more schools than other sports, Norwell still has nine ranked opponents left in the regular season.
Hunter likes to see her team play against teams of high caliber to gain confidence that they can play in big games and stay up.
“You always want to play good teams, and I looked at our schedule, and we do play a lot of pretty solid teams at the beginning,” Hunter said. “Which has its pros and cons. I think it’s good for them. We obviously want to see good competition for us to be successful against a team like Heritage to get that confidence at the beginning.”
Madeline McCabe led the team with seven kills and three aces, Macie Saalfrank led with 17 assists, Jordyn Xayyachack with 16 digs, and Mallory Falls, Vanessa Rosswurm, and Saalfrank each had one block.
Norwell will play next at the Prairie Heights Invitational starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26.
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