Northwest Wins In Five Over Kearney Catholic

(Grand Island, NE) - It would be a reverse sweep for the Northwest Viking volleyball team on Thursday night as the Vikings would defeat Kearney Catholic three sets to two. (22-25, 26-28, 25-15, 26-24, 15-11) The first two sets would be nice and tight between the two squads. In the first set Northwest would be down one point having a chance to tie the score but would ultimately fall short of doing so four different times. In the second set, Northwest would have a 23-19 lead. After a Kearney Catholic timeout, the Stars would rally to tie the set at 24-24 and go on and win by two points 28-26. The Vikings would come out in the 3rd set to win 25-15. Northwest would control the set early leading 13-7 forcing Kearney Catholic to take a time out. The Vikings later would have an eight-point advantage 18-10 forcing another timeout from the Stars. In the fourth set, Northwest would take a timeout trailing 13-8. The Vikings would climb back into the set tying the score 13-13. The two teams would see-saw back and forth until Northwest was able to claim a two-point victory 26-24. In the fifth Northwest would force Kearney Catholic to use both timeouts early as the Vikings would race to a 10-2 lead as Northwest in the end would hang on by four to claim the match 15-11. 

Unofficially Kearney Catholic (10-3) was led by Hazel Haarberg with 22 kills. Payton Dzingle had 15 kills. The Vikings (9-6) were led by freshman Ava Janulewicz with 16 kills. Kelsey Knapp had a big match with 15 kills. Izzy Burhman chipped in 11 kills along with Alivia Wragge with 8 kills for the Vikings. Kearney Catholic will be at the Aurora Invite on Saturday, September 28th. Northwest will travel to Hastings on Saturday to participate in the Hastings Invite. The Vikings will open up with Elkhorn at 10:00 am. Other first-round action in Hastings will include Columbus vs Hastings, Platteview vs Lexington, and Kearney vs Alliance.