A fast start gave way to some slower play for Newman in its Three Rivers East match against Mendota.

But the Comets sped up their pace down the stretch to rally for a 25-18, 25-19 win over the Trojans on Tuesday night in Sterling.

After jumping out to a 23-8 lead in the opening set, Newman (10-15, 4-3 TRAC East) struggled to maintain its rhythm for the rest of the first set and most of the second. Trailing 18-14 in the second after a kill by Mendota’s Laylie Denault and a block by Mariyah Elam, Newman coach Debbi Kelly called a timeout to regroup.

Her message to the Comets: speed things up and get back to playing their game.

“Coach just said, ‘Come on guys, get the energy up,’ and we listened very well,” libero Amaya Gomez said. “We got the energy up right away and came back. I was so proud of us that we could keep going with it and not stop.

“I’m so proud of the team tonight.”

A hitting error by Mendota (4-19, 0-7) put Newman’s Gisselle Martin back on the service line, and she reeled off back-to-back aces before a Bella Lanning kill tied the score at 18. Two kills by Ruby Burger and a dump for a kill by setter Brooklyn Smith were part of Martin’s eight-point service run as the Comets took control 23-18.

“My only goal was just to get the serves over, honestly. All that mattered was I got my serves in, and they didn’t really receive it well, so I think I did a pretty good job,” Martin said. “We’ve been working on aggressive serves, short serves, deep serves, just all types of serves. It was pretty good tonight.”

It was only fitting that Lanning’s ace finished off the win, because that serving set the tone from the start.

Lucy Oetting had a pair of aces after kills by Martin and Lanning to open the match, then Gomez went on a nine-point service run to give the Comets a 19-5 lead. Oetting, Smith, and Kennedi Shippert had kills in that stretch, and Lauren McClain added a kill and a block. A block by Shippert, a kill by Lanning and two more points by Oetting stretched the margin to 23-8.

“Honestly, me personally, I’ve been working on my serves,” Oetting said. “Last Thursday I missed two serves, Monday I missed two serves, so I’ve just been working on my serve a lot, trying to make it better and better for each match.”

Newman’s runs coincided with some solid passing. When the Comets were connected back to front, things ran more smoothly for the offense.

“I was very proud of our passing tonight,” Gomez said. “We had our angles down, and we were just communicating very well whose ball it was, being able to stay out of the way for the person to pass it.”

“We struggled a little bit here and there, but usually our passing was pretty good,” Oetting added. “We usually work a lot on serve-receive every single day, and that’s the key for us doing it in the match.”

The Trojans took advantage of Newman shuffling the lineup with the big lead to claw their way back. Elaina Koch had a block and Eva Beetz served an ace before Elam’s block ignited a Koch service run as Mendota got within 24-18 on a Denault kill.

Lanning spiked a kill to close out the first set, then the teams went back and forth in the second before Newman’s final surge down the stretch.

Lanning had nine kills, Burger and McClain both had four kills and a block, and Shippert had a pair of kills and a block for Newman. Smith dished 18 assists, Martin added 10 points, two aces, two kills and a block, Oetting finished with eight digs, six points, two aces and a kill, and Gomez chipped in 11 points and five digs.

“Our key tonight was sticking together,” Martin said. “We all know that we have each others’ backs no matter what happens at the end of the day, so we stuck together and believed in one another and our ability to play, and that led to some good teamwork.”

Denault led Mendota with seven kills, Koch added 10 points, five kills and a block, and Elam had two kills and a block. Beetz finished with seven assists, five points and two aces, and Kate Strouss dished four assists.