By RYAN WALKER
Norwell almost did the ultimate reverse sweep in the sectional championship game.
The Knights hosted this year’s sectional tournament in hopes of capturing a title for the first time since 2006 with the absence of perennial power Bellmont, who bumped up to 4A due to the new IHSAA success factor. But the Knights dropped 3-2 in five sets, falling short of the 2-0, 3-2 victory and left The Castle without a wooden plaque to add to its collection.
Heritage, perhaps the favorite to win it all after defeating the Knights in straight sets earlier in the year, took the first two sets by the same 25-23 score. Norwell inched its way back, and looked like the better team in the middle sets, winning 25-20 and 25-16.
Even in the fifth, Norwell got off to a scorching start with six straight points and ked 10-6 and just five points away from game, set and match — but Heritage was not going to let them off the hook that easy.
“I don’t know if we got tight or what,” Norwell head coach Kayla Hunter said. “Part of it is just being used to playing in those moments, and we aren’t yet. We’re building those muscles.”
Patriots’ head coach Shelley Schwartz’s timeout at 10-6, letting the Knights’ fans blow off their energy, smelling the taste of victory and cheering them on. But whatever Schwartz said or changed ignited new life in her team.
The Patriots got point after point following the stoppage. Patriot fans started to believe it wasn’t over, and it fed onto the court. At once, the Patriots tied it. Then, scored again and once more to make the score 12-10.
Hunter blew through two timeouts during the final period, hoping for a similar result, but the Patriots’ momentum was too strong and eventually took care and secured victory 15-12.
The Patriots came away with the sectional, which was once theirs to lose in the first place and took it right back at the expense of the home team.
“It’s so hard to hold both the frustration of they easily could have been holding that trophy, and at the same time, the improvement, the fight and the ability to turn that around,” Hunter said. “Just thinking what that means for the program in general.”
What it means for the program is a new standard — get back to this match and win it next time. Early in the season, coach Hunter raved about the junior class, and by the end of the year, she put a cherry on top of the growth she saw from the team.
Eleven members of the postseason roster are juniors, three are sophomores and only three seniors. Those three seniors — Jenna Osborn, Rebecca Settle and Mekynzi Beck — don’t get as much of the credit for being outnumbered, but Hunter didn’t look past them when evaluating the season.
“It’s a senior class that doesn’t necessarily get all of the accolades because they have all of those juniors under them,” Hunter said. “But it’s just a really selfless, hard-working group that I think (Rebecca) Settle and Jenna Osborn are so committed and the two people that are always getting the gum off of the bus and making sure things look clean. They’re so selfless, want the best for the team, they don’t care about themselves, so obviously, that’s hard to replace.”
“Mekynzi played one of the best games of her life tonight and totally led by example in that way,” she also said.
As exciting as next season can be with the returning cast members, it doesn’t have any immediate impact to the heartbreaking loss on Saturday night. But that feeling might be a nice reminder in the offseason when preparing for 2025.
“As much as this sucks, I think this is really going to fuel them next year and they’re going to come in with a little edge to the fire under them, which will hopefully feel better next year, but this year still sucks,” Hunter said.
ryan@news-banner.com
