In a back-and-forth volleyball match Thursday night, Northmor was edged by visiting Fredericktown by scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-21.
While the team fell in three consecutive games, all three were closely-contested, with the main difference being that a veteran Fredericktown squad was able to play strong down the stretch to outscore the Golden Knights.
“That’s what I told the girls,” said Northmor coach Kara Wright. “We can’t be upset with the loss, but one or two things here or there, it’d be more of a game. They made some clutch plays that we have to learn to make to push us into the tournament.”
For much of the night, the teams played each other evenly. The Freddies scored the first three points of the opening game on serves by Hannah Vaughn, but Northmor responded with two points from Macy Miracle and one by both Lexi Wenger and Leslie Brubaker to take a 7-6 lead.
Both squads traded the lead back-and-forth until three points by Lainey Partington and two from Vaughn staked Fredericktown to a 15-11 lead. Northmor would get a defensive stop and two points from Miracle to close within a one-point margin, though.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to get over the hump. With the score 21-19 in favor of the Freddies, they would get three points from Partington. Northmor got a defensive point and two scores from Julianne Kincaid to get within a 24-22 margin, but a defensive stop by Fredericktown gave them the first game.
“They’ve got the maturity and talent to close out close situations,” said Wright of her team’s opponents.
Four straight points by Brubaker turned a 3-2 deficit to a 6-3 lead in the second game, but the Golden Knights were only able to pick up three more offensive points. Two points by Summer Weller and two more from Lindsey Boeshart pushed the Freddies in front by a 12-10 margin.
Then, leading by a 15-13 score, Fredericktown got three straight by Kelsey Boeshart to jump out to a five-point advantage. Two points from Reagan Swihart was able to get Northmor withing a 19-17 margin, but the Freddies were able to pull away down the stretch to claim the game and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Neither team could get an advantage for much of the third game. Fredericktown led 11-8, but a defensive score and two points from Miracle were able to bring Northmor into a tie. The score wouldn’t be deadlocked for long, as the Freddies got the ball back and then picked up two points from Lindsey Boeshart and three from Olivia Mast to jump out to an 18-12 advantage.
Northmor responded with a point from Brubaker, which was followed by four from Michalea Zeger to tie the game at 19. That would be the end of Northmor’s offensive scoring in the match, though, as the Freddies got one point on each of their next three serve attempts to finish on top by four points in the game.
Winger finished with five kills and two blocks and Kincaid totaled eighth kills, one ace and six digs. Brubaker tallied five kills and two blocks, while Miracle had 25 assists, three blocks and an ace. Also, Megan Adkins had three kills and an ace, Swihart added three kills and two blocks, Abby Donner had nine digs and Zeger picked up six digs.
Wright noted her team is the middle of a busy week, in which they compete in four matches — something she looks at as a positive.
“We’re able to start with a clean slate every day and start with a good mentality every game,” she said.
