NORFOLK — A slow start led to a big finish Thursday night as Elgin Public-Pope John opened the volleyball season with a four-set victory over Lutheran High Northeast.
The Eagles won the first set, then the Wolfpack came back to sweep the final three sets to win 12-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-23.
Coach Jordynn Luettel said a slow start led to some adjustments which got the Wolfpack back in the match. “It came down to that first ball,” she said about the team’s serve receive. “If you don’t have that first ball, you can’t get anything else going.
EPPJ turned things around, starting in the second set as kills from Mady Kurpgeweit and Jael Lammers helped build a 20 to 15 lead. They closed out the set with two service points from Elizabeth Moser.
The third and fourth sets started out the same way with the Wolfpack jumping out to big leads. Moser had two ace serves to start the third set as EPPJ took a seven-point lead. Poor execution on the floor allowed the Eagles to fight back, closing the score to 12 to 9.
Sophia Burke came off the bench for two service points, then net plays by Braylyn Martinsen and Sydney Niewohner helped regain the momentum.
LHNE made one more run to close within one, 23 to 22. Then kills by Martinsen and Lammers closed out the set 25 to 23.
In Set #4, EPPJ took a 9 to 2 lead and maintained that margin for much of the set before the Eagles tied the lead at 22-all.
Lammers then closed out the match with three kills to win the match and start a celebration on the court.
“At the end of the match we just focused on finding a way to win,” Luettel said. “We weren’t on our ‘A’ game.
….see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
