By RYAN WALKER
Bellmont’s strong program prevailed again, sweeping Norwell in volleyball 3-0 at The Castle Tuesday night.
The first two sets were all Braves (18-9, 4-0 NE8), winning 25-14 and 25-10, but the Knights (13-10, 1-3 NE8) had something to say about the third set.
After an 11-point spread for the reigning 3A state runner-ups, the Braves took complete control and left no room for a comeback. But the previous night, the Knights were down 2-0 to No. 9 in 1A Adams Central and won 3-2. That same team showed up in the third against Bellmont.
Norwell pulled away 17-14 and had the packed pink out-themed night for cancer crowd roaring. Bellmont took a timeout, but the storm could not be weathered. The Knights went up 23-18 and on the fringes to taking the Braves to a fourth set for the first time in decades.
Bellmont swarmed back, taking the next three points and forcing Norwell head coach Kayla Hunter into a timeout to preserve the lead. But the Braves just kept coming back, scoring the next few points and eventually tying at 24 a piece for another Hunter timeout.
“Just trying to keep them grounded and composed,” Hunter said of the use of two timeouts late in the third set. “Especially when you’re playing a team like Bellmont, it’s easy to let their runs get into our head. I think that’s what happened to us. Just trying to get them not to let their momentum take away from ours, which I think it did tonight. Hopefully, we can learn from that and stay composed and score points even when the other team does get back.”
In the overtime set, Bellmont swiped the two points it needed and won the match.
Even though the Knights didn’t comeback or win the set, it was encouraging for Hunter, who said her team is playing really good volleyball at the moment.
Prior to Tuesday night, the Knights had won three of their last four contests. The junior-heavy roster has been going through some bumps along the way, but recently got a crucial piece to the lineup back and has assisted in the hot streak.
Macie Saalfrank plugged back into the rotation and didn’t miss a beat, taking her role back and running with it. She’s made an impact all over the floor in her return in hopes for a deep postseason run in a few weeks.
“She just adds so much in so many different areas and is just so athletic,” Hunter said. “She just kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off of some of our other hitters that have been trying to carry the heavy load the whole game.”
Norwell will be at New Haven to continue conference play at 7 p.m.Thursday, Oct. 3.
Stat leaders for the night were: Vanessa Rosswurm and Macie Saalfrank seven kills, Rebecca Settle two aces, Emma Vachon 17 assists, Mekynzi Beck and Jaycie Grzych two blocks and Autumn Lee 21 digs.
Norwell fell 2-0 in the junior varsity match (25-7, 25-12) and won the freshman match 2-1 (25-18, 21-25 and 15-11).
ryan@news-banner.com
