Northwestern takes down Wolcott 3-2

WINSTED — The Northwestern Regional High School Highlanders hosted the Wolcott Eagles in the second round of the postseason on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Northwestern was able to fight back from a two-game deficit and win three in a row to take a 3-2 victory at home.

Wolcott struck first, and then built a quick lead in the first game, as miscommunication among the Highlanders threw their game off-kilter.  The Eagles continued to pull ahead with strong serving and made the best of a seemingly rattled Northwestern team.

The Highlanders showed some sign of life, and began to close the growing gap, but once they regained the serve, the Eagles worked a massive 13-25 first-game victory, sowing seeds of concern amongst the noisy hometown crowd.

Northwestern’s Kaci Seibert opened up scoring in the second game with an on the line kill. Seibert continued to work hard around the net, driving hard spikes and putting up timely blocks. The Eagles responded and quickly cut the gap and built a slight lead over the Highlanders, who appeared to be slipping defensively.

Reclaiming the serve, Northwestern chopped away at the Eagle’s lead, and an ace from Seibert evened the score. The Highlanders seized momentum with the assistance of a roaring hometown crowd and captured a slight advantage. Northwestern’s Jenna Nardi began drilling hard, unmanageable spikes to maintain the advantage.

The resiliency of Wolcott shone through, however, as they continued to nip at the Highlander’s heels to tie things up at 16-16. The Eagles pulled away once again and held Northwestern back late in the game to take a 20-25 victory.

Down by two games and facing elimination, Northwestern stepped up in the third game and built a strong lead behind Nardi’s serve. Wolcott was quick to tie, but Seibert’s hard efforts helped reclaim the lead with consecutive aces. The Highlanders continued to press the swing in momentum and produced a 12-6 lead through the middle part of the set. Nardi went back to work, tallying digs and kills off passes that she pulverized with hard, driving spikes to extend their lead to 17-8.

Wolcott was unrelenting and closed the gap to 17-15. Northwestern battled on, and continued to set up plays nicely to finish with killing swats that allowed them to survive with a 25-19 third-game win and a near 25-21 fourth-game victory.

Nardi bloodied the Eagles first in the final game, but despite the strong opening, Wolcott remained close. Neither side was able to pull ahead more than a point or two. Nardi was brilliant throughout the final game, finishing strong setup plays with the spike at the net. It was no surprise to fan, teammate or opponent when Nardi sank the killing blow to win the game 15-12 and claim a 3-2 second-round tournament victory at home.

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