Volleyball: Newman pulls away to defeat Bureau Valley in battle of top TRAC East teams

STERLING – The battle of the top two teams in the Three Rivers East turned into a bit of a one-sided affair Thursday night.

With Newman leading Bureau Valley by a match in the division standings, the Comets played a rock-steady, consistent brand of volleyball in a 25-15, 25-16 victory on their home court.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Bureau Valley volleyball ]

“We’ve just been really trying to focus on not going up and down so much [emotionally] during the match, and just staying up the whole time,” senior libero Addison Foster said, “and I think that we’re finally at a point in the season where we can stay up and continue to play steady and not drop down as far when things aren’t going our way. That’s really a big key for us.”

Newman (15-2, 7-0 TRAC East) pulled away with runs in the middle of both sets. Stellar passing set the tone.

“It makes it really easy to run our offense when the passes are perfect, because then I can just put it right into our hitters’ hands,” senior setter Molly Olson said. “The passing was really good tonight.”

“We haven’t had a game since last Tuesday, so we’ve had a long time to practice and focus on specific things,” Foster added. “We’ve been splitting up at practice – hitters, passers, setters – and we’ve really been working on working together and crossing, and just getting the angles on the hitters’ shoulders.”

There wasn’t much rust from the long layoff. Bureau Valley (10-10, 5-2) led in the opening set up until 7-6, then an ace from sophomore Lucy Oetting tied the score after Olson had a kill for a sideout. Oetting then reeled off eight more points, including another ace, with kills by Makenzie Duhon and Kennedy Rowzee and a pair of Rowzee blocks to make it 15-7.

“I think it’s going really good with everybody making plays for us,” Foster said. “And shout out to Lucy; she got pulled up [to varsity] today and started, and she did really good. We’re really proud of her for stepping up when she needed to.”

The teams then traded points up to 21-13, with Newman getting kills from Rowzee and Jess Johns, and BV countering with kills from Emma Stabler, Madison Smith and McKinley Canady.

“When our passes were there in pocket to me, we set up our offense perfectly; every time we got a pass to pocket, it was a kill for us,” Storm senior setter Kate Salisbury said. “I’m not sure what happened. I don’t know if we got tired or if we lost our focus, but our passes just kind of started to be off and not be in pocket, and that’s when we started to fall behind.”

The second set was nearly a carbon copy of the first. BV led 2-0 after a kill by Stabler and a block by Mattie Michlig, but a Rowzee ace got Newman on the board, then a Johns kill and another Rowzee slam were followed by an ace from Foster. The Storm cut it to 7-5 with kills by Salisbury and Stabler, but never got any closer.

A kill by Johns and a block by Duhon made it 11-7 Newman, then a tip-kill by Rowzee and back-to-back spikes by Johns stretched it to 16-9. Foster served two consecutive points for a 20-10 lead.

Johns had nine kills and six digs, and Rowzee added seven kills and two blocks in a balanced effort for Newman. Olson dished 16 assists, Oetting finished with nine points, and Duhon had two kills and a block. Sam Ackman served four points, and Foster finished with six digs and six points.

“It’s really important to move it around so the defense isn’t just stuck on one hitter, and it’s really important that everyone is getting the kills and doing their job,” Olson said. “Our energy, and just staying calm and having our passes perfect really helped us tonight, and our hitting, too. We just played steady.”

Salisbury had 14 assists, four digs and two kills, and Stabler led the way with seven kills to go with three digs. Canady spiked five kills and Lesleigh Maynard added five digs for BV.

“I felt like our offense did a very good job. Our front row and our setter did amazing, and I was very proud of us for that,” Stabler said. “But we couldn’t pass the ball, and we just couldn’t execute. We’ve got to find a way to get the momentum back, and it starts with the pass. A good pass leads to a good set, then a good hit, and once we do that, then we’ll be able to execute and go on some runs.”