Coming off back-to-back losses, Dixon knew it wouldn’t be easy to clinch the Big Northern Conference crown Tuesday night.

But a huge rally to close the opening set led to more consistency in the second as the Duchesses defeated host Winnebago 25-22, 25-18 to claim the title outright as the lone one-loss team in the league.

“It feels great,” senior Presley Lappin said. “I feel like we really came out hot at the beginning of the season, and then these past couple conference games have been kind of a struggle for us; I think it’s been hard for us to keep our momentum.

“But I’m really happy that we pulled through and did it. I think everybody played their part, and I’m really proud of my team, I think that we deserve this.”

Dixon (21-9, 8-1 BNC) won the championship by a game over Rockford Christian and Byron, which both finished 7-2. It comes a year after the Duchesses finished one game behind the Royal Lions for the conference crown.

“It’s amazing. We’ve worked really hard for it,” senior Izzy Queckboerner said. “It was definitely a redemption year; we were really close last year, and we knew we really wanted it this year – and we knew we could do it.”

Queckboerner smashed a match-high eight kills and stuffed a block, and several other Duchesses came up big at key moments.

Rayven Mowery had six kills and a block; Morgan Hargrave added four kills, five digs, seven points and two assists; and Leah Carlson stuffed the stat sheet with 16 assists, three kills, five digs and two aces. Lucy Feick smacked a pair of kills and stuffed a block, Lappin added eight assists and five digs, Solis Thompson served seven points – including a pair of aces – to go with a pair of kills, and libero Yui Santos led the back row with eight digs for Dixon.

The biggest turn of momentum came at the hands of Abby Hicks. She stepped to the service line with Dixon trailing 22-18 in the first set and reeled off the game’s final seven points; Carlson and Mowery had kills to bookend five Winnebago hitting errors in the decisive stretch.

“I really just tried to stay nice and calm. That’s what I focus on, that’s one of my big roles on the team, to go out there and serve,” said Hicks, who finished with nine points and a kill. “I really just locked in on that and focused up.”

That poise and composure has been the Duchesses’ hallmark all season. Every time they go through a lull or find themselves trailing late in a set, they seem to be able to dig deeper and find another gear.

“We just reset. A lot of times we do a spin-around and we just restart,” Queckboerner said. “We know we’re capable, we just have to find it within us and really go with it.”

Experience – Dixon has eight seniors – and a tight bond play a big part, too.

“I think we have a really good relationship,” Hicks said. “We do a lot of team bonding things, and we just work together really well. We talk a lot before the games on what we need to focus on, and we just have strong chemistry.”

The second set saw Dixon finish on a 10-3 run with kills/blocks/aces from six different players in that final surge.

Lappin praised several teammates by name – Queckboerner, Hicks, Mowery, Santos – when talking about the contributions up and down the lineup.

“I feel like we still struggled to keep our momentum a little bit, but I think we all knew that we had to pull through and win this game,” she said. “We were so close to winning conference, and I think we all focused up and did that.”

Queckboerner was proud of the way her team fought off a spirited battle from the Indians (10-18-2, 2-7 BNC).

“We knew they were going to fight and they weren’t going to give it to us easily,” she said. “We just found that fire within us, picked each other up, pumped each other up, and really pushed ourselves and each other to finish strong.”

Bailee Olson and Anna Hartman each had four kills to lead ‘Bago, and Olson also stuffed a block. Aubrey Eklund dished six assists and served five points, Kylie Busse led the way with eight service points, and Sammi Falnes finished with six points, three aces, a block and a kill. Hannah Bertram spiked a pair of kills for the Indians.