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Northwestern rallies for four-set win over Christian

Northwestern’s Ashley Haven, center, reaches to hit the ball as Aberdeen Christian’s Arianna Johnson, left and Sophie Glynn, right, defend the net during Tuesday night’s match at the Aberdeen Christian School gym. Photo by John Davis taken 10/8/2024

Northwestern started slow, but finished strong Tuesday night.

The fifth-rated Wildcats rebounded from a shaky opening set to defeat Aberdeen Christian 18-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-14 in a Lake Region Conference volleyball match the Christian School Gym.

Northwestern, which hadn’t played in a while, had a little rust early, but took control once it got going.

“Well, it was pretty obvious we hadn’t played for a week, so we were a little slow to start,” said Wildcats coach Nora Groft. “We had 15 errors in the first set. It’s hard to beat anybody when you have 15 errors. I thought Christian did a great job with coming out with a lot of energy.”

That was a main focus for the Knights. They had hoped to come out with a lot of energy, being aggressive from the start.

“We knew it was going to be a tough match. I mean it’s Northwestern, so it’s inevitable,” said Christian coach Sara Powell. “I told them they have to come out hitting, they have to hit strong.”

Following that first set, the Wildcats knew they had to pick up their energy and also clean up their game.

“We just talked about it in between sets. The difference there, other than the errors, was our energy was pretty low coming in,” Groft said. “Having so much time off was nice to rest a little bit. You still gotta come out and play.”

Ashley Haven, who finished the match with six aces, 16 kills, two solo blocks and six assisted blocks, brought the energy. The senior helped her squad gain momentum from the service line.

She served up three aces in the second set to help extend an 8-5 lead to a 12-5 advantage, and also had three aces during one stretch of serves in the third set.

“I was just feeling it. My serves have definitely gotten much better throughout the season,” Haven said. “I can definitely tell where the passers’ weaknesses are, and I just try and go for them. And that’s just kind of what I did tonight.”

Haven was also a force at net, making up for five hitting errors in the contest.

“Ashley does a nice job. She had, I think, five attack errors tonight. She’s very mindful of that and she’s going to try to get those points back, for us, in another way,” said Groft. “She also had several blocks tonight. … She definitely comes back and gets those points back for us in another way. And that’s just a good testament to what a good player she is.”

Heading into the match, the Knights figured Northwestern would focus its defense on Arianna Johnson at the net. Jolie Fogarty rose to the challenge and topped Christian with 12 kills.

Aberdeen Christian’s Jolie Fogarty, right, reaches to hit the ball as Northwestern’s Ashley Haven, left and Ella Boekelheide, center, defend the net during Tuesday night’s match at the Aberdeen Christian School gym. Photo by John Davis taken 10/8/2024

“I knew that they’d probably be paying a lot of attention to Ari, she’s a good, big hitter,” Fogarty said. “So I just knew I had to come out swinging. … I knew I had to aim to get a kill every time.”

The Wildcats played without 6-foot-3 hitter Adriana Ratigan, who is recovering from a knee injury. But, Northwestern did not miss a beat because of its depth.

“Our right side is out with some knee issues, so we had a different kid in there tonight. It’s always fun to see another kid get some playing time, but at the same time, you miss having a 6-3 kid out on the floor,” Groft said. “This is probably the deepest bench we’ve had for a while. We have kids on our bench who didn’t get in tonight that are fantastic volleyball players.”

Both squads had tall tasks ahead of them moving forward.

Christian will be on the road for the remainder of the season.

“I feel like it’s a repetitive thing. You just keep working hard, keep improving what we can,” Powell said. “Be a good team, be aggressive and keep attacking the ball.”

Northwestern’s Sophia Troske looks to serve the ball during Tuesday night’s match at the Aberdeen Christian School gym. Photo by John Davis taken 10/8/2024

Northwestern has a big week ahead taking on Faulkton, before hosting its own tournament this weekend, and with a possible rematch against Elk Point-Jefferson. The two met on Sept. 22, when the Wildcats dropped the match in three sets, winning the first set 25-23, and falling in the second and third 28-26 and 26-24.

“We have a big week. We have Faulkton on Thursday and then we host our own tournament this weekend. We’re hoping to get a rematch with Elk Point-Jefferson,” Groft soft. “That’d be a perfect end for our week, to play well enough to get a crack at them. … We’re just hoping to be playing our best volleyball in November.”

Serving: Northwestern 86-92 12 aces (Ashley Haven 14-16 6 aces, Breelyn Satter 19-20 3 aces, Ella Boekelheide 20-20 2 aces); Aberdeen Christian (Sophie Glynn 2 aces, Payton Skarin 1 ace)

Hitting: Northwestern 92-107 39 kills (Haven 35-40 16 kills, Anna Brumfield 26-31 12 kills, Nicolette Nickeson 14-14 6 kills); Aberdeen Christian (Jolie Fogarty 12 kills, Skarin 6 kills, Arianna Johnson 5 kills).

Setting: Northwestern 113-114 38 assists (Boekelheide 88-89 34 assists); Aberdeen Christian (Sawyer Schwan 23 assists, Alexis Isakson 3 assists)

Digs: Northwestern 52 (Tara Blachford 14, Payton Grandpre 9, Haven 8); Aberdeen Christian (Isakson 15, Fogarty 12, Skarin 9)

Blocks: Northwestern 2 solo 13 assists (Haven 2 solo 6 assists, Boekelheide 5 assists); Aberdeen Christian (Johnson 2 solo 1 assist, Schwan 1 solo, Glynn 1 assist).

Record: Northwestern 20-4; Aberdeen Christian 12-9.

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