NIOBRARA — Victory proved elusive Friday night as Stuart stunned Elgin Public-Pope John in the finals of the Niobrara Valley Conference Tournament.
Having defeated the Lady Broncos in early September, the Wolfpack came up short on the big points in the final set as Stuart prevailed 22-25, 25-18, 25-16, 20-25 and 15-12.
Tied two sets all, the teams were tied at 8-all when Stuart put together back-to-back points to take a 10 to eight lead. A kill by Chloe Henn cut the lead to one. From there, the lead went from one to two points with Stuart having the upper hand.
A service point by Addison Steinhauer gave Stuart a 13 to 10 lead. Kills by Henn and Sara Bode sandwiched a Stuart point to make the score 14 to 12. Then, on their first match point, the Lady Broncos came through, handing EPPJ just their fourth loss of the season. On one side of the net there was jubilation, winning the conference championship. On the other side were the Wolfpack, upset with the loss but knowing their goal of a state tournament berth was still within reach.
“They (Stuart) really brought it tonight,” EPPJ Coach Jordynn Luettel said. “We hurt ourselves on those earlier sets. We could not keep our serves in bounds and just really weren’t playing as aggressive as we needed to.”
After winning the first set, EPPJ saw Stuart ride a wave of momentum to win the next two sets.
….See more at this week’s Elgin Review
