NEWARK – Kiara Wesseh missed her first two kill attempts badly on the first two points during Tuesday evening’s key Little Ten Conference volleyball matchup between the Newark Norsemen and Earlville Red Raiders.
But the high-flying junior left-side hitter steadied herself from there on to produce an excellent night with a season-best 12 kills to go along with seven digs, helping the Norsemen rally from one set down to capture a hard-fought, 23-25, 25-19, 25-18 decision on their home court. Newark (13-0, 4-0 LTC) remains undefeated on the season.
“My timing was way off to start the match, and then I got into the flow of the game a little more and kind of talked myself through things,” Wesseh said. “Once I hit my first kill, I calmed down and had my confidence back, and that really held true for the rest of our team tonight.”
Indeed it did, as the Norsemen fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first set before junior Kodi Rizzo (15 service points, six aces, six kills, four blocks) rallied Newark back by reeling off seven consecutive service winners as well as three aces to cut the gap to 20-19.
But Earlville (7-4, 3-1) held strong behind juniors Nevaeh Sansone (13 digs, nine kills, eight points), Brooklyn Guelde (20 assists), Mady Olson (nine points, two aces, six kills) and Hannah Pfaff (nine digs, six kills) to close out the first game by two points despite the big Newark rally and momentum switch.
“I thought our girls played with a lot of heart, and I’m proud of the way we competed, especially in the first set where we had a big lead and still held them off to win the opening set,” Earlville coach Tonya Scherer said. “But our starts to the second and third games let Newark get off to some decent leads, and we were never really able to recover in order to win the match.
“We got close, but unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to win this one.”
Rizzo produced three straight serving aces early on in the second set to help put Newark ahead 7-1.
“To get on the serving runs like I had tonight, I just try to feed off the energy of how we’re playing and what’s going on in the match,” Rizzo said. “After the first set where we almost caught up with them, I knew I had to take my first serve of the second set and do something with it.”
The Raiders could get no closer than three points when Sansone rallied with four service winners to cut the Norsemen lead to 15-12. But Newark followed with a 10-7 run that evened the match at one set apiece, as Wesseh pounded down a left-side dagger off a great assist from junior setter Lauren Ulrich (12 assists, nine digs).
“All my sets tonight from Lauren and Dani [Peshia] (eight assists) were amazing,” Wesseh said. “We were able to start strong in the second set and carry a good feeling into the third game.”
That feeling continued to grow for the Norsemen, as they raced out to a huge advantage after consecutive middle attacks from Rizzo resulted in a kill and a monster stuff block that put Newark ahead 15-8.
Rizzo added two more kills and a block down the stretch.
Senior libero Taylor Kruser also enjoyed a fine night for the home squad with an impressive 14 digs.
“We have to realize being undefeated and going into matches we’re going to get every team’s best game, and we sure did against Earlville tonight, so credit to them,” Newark coach P.J. McKinney said. “We have to start better than we did the last couple of matches, but I give a lot of credit to our team for battling back after the first-set loss.
“Kiara and Kodi were pretty special in leading us, so I’m pretty proud of them, as I am of the rest of this team. We stayed together and persevered to get a big win against a fine opponent.”