ELGIN — After dropping the first set, Elgin Public-Pope John seized control of the match and rolled to a 22-25, 25-14 and 25-18 victory over Hartington Cedar Catholic last week.
Playing the match at EPS as part of a triangular with Norfolk Catholic, the Wolfpack overcame the Trojans’ height advantage in the latter stages of the match.
The Wolfpack jumped out to a big lead as Jael Lammers and Kayton Zwingman made big plays at the net and Tessa Barlow delivered an ace serve to lead 19 to 6.
Then, Braellyn Martinsen added an ace serve and Mady Kurpgeweit had two kills at the net to close out the set. Kurpgeweit led Wolfpack hitters with 12 kills in the match, one more than Martinsen.
In Set #3, EPPJ built a 16 to 10 lead. Then Brooke Kinney pounded an ace serve as the teams traded points to close out the match.
“I don’t think we were ready,” Coach Jordynn Luettel said about Hartington CC. “We weren’t ready to go. So come second, third set, we were ready to play Wolfpack volleyball and just clean up our side of the net.”
Elizabeth Moser had three of the team’s eight ace serves. She had 12 set assists, only trailing Camry Kittelson who added 22.
Night cap
The final match of the night had the Wolfpack facing off against C2 top-ranked Norfolk Catholic.
Having swept the Trojans, Norfolk Catholic came into the EPPJ match looking to win the match, which they did, but the Wolfpack didn’t make it easy for them.
In Set #1, the Knights found it hard to keep the Wolfpack’s front row hitters under control. Back-to-back kills by Lammers gave EPPJ an 18 to 17 lead.
That would be the Wolfpack’s last lead in the set as the Knights went on an eight-to-three run to close out the set. They benefited from two ace serves by Mallory Wolf and two kills from Ava Wemhoff.
The Knights jumped out to a 14 to 8 lead in the second set only to see EPPJ make a charge. A five-to-one run by the Wolfpack cut the Knights’ lead to 15 to 13. Kittelson had an ace serve and Lammers added a kill at the net.
….see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
