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GREENFIELD – Nodaway Valley (13-3) took down Southwest Valley (3-7) 3-1 on Tuesday’s Senior Night.
The Wolverines roster eight seniors: Erin Rhoads, Isabella Rubio, Emma Cooney, Natalie Yonker, Haley Longobardi, Corinne Bond, Lexi Shike and Kennedy Perkey.
Nodaway Valley head coach Allison Kiburz said she has coached the seniors since they were in eighth grade, making them the first group she has watched grow up to now graduate and became “one of the most dedicated groups I have probably ever coached.”
“We have a lot of girls on the team, a lot of seniors on the team and this was their night,” Kiburz said. “They all got to contribute in one way or another, which was good, and they really stepped up and kind of played their own role.”
Nodaway Valley’s win saw leadership scattered through the floor, taking set one 25-13 and set two 25-17 with the Timberwolves making corrections after the first two sets. Southwest Valley won set three 25-16 before Nodaway Valley ran away with the final set 25-14 to take the win.
With energy in the building early, Nodaway Valley took a 7-1 advantage in the first set on Rubio’s serve. Extending the lead to 8-2, Southwest Valley called a timeout to regroup.
The stoppage didn’t slow down the Wolverines as setters passed the ball to Bond, who made herself a force in the first set.
“She’s a hard player to defend, she really is,” Kiburz said on Bond. “A lot of times we put it in her hands, which is a lot on her shoulders, but she usually rises to that occasion.”
Feeding attack attempts to Bond early in the game, she became the school’s record holder in kills with 597. She passed Courtney Varley Stringham’s record set in 2004. Tuesday, Bond recorded 17 kills.
As the set continued, Southwest Valley struggled to find a rhythm to keep up with the energy the Wolverines were putting forward. Nodaway Valley ended the set on a 5-0 run with two kills from Bond and a block to finish the set.
The Timberwolves were able to flip the script and limit mistakes early in the second set, taking a 7-1 lead behind kills from Kyli Aldrich and Tonna Damewood, with an ace from Samantha Larsen sandwiched between.
Aldrich played a strong game for Southwest Valley, recording 12 kills and one block.
Trailing early, Nodaway Valley was able to keep the lead from swelling, slowly chipping away on a ball Shike tapped between two Timberwolves and another kill. The Wolverines cut the lead back to 12-10 before serves switched, and they went on an 8-0 run.
“We knew coming in that they were probably going to be pretty good,” Southwest Valley head coach Lindsay Wetzel said. “I just felt like we didn’t play that well. We committed a lot of unforced errors, which is something we can control, and we didn’t control that.”
A large run cut any momentum the Timberwolves had late in the second set. Southwest Valley scratched points from Damewood and an ace from Ryanne Mullen to go with a Nodaway Valley attack in the net, but the Wolverines finished on back-to-back 3-0 runs to go up two sets.
Down to its final set, Southwest Valley kept the Wolverines from gaining too much momentum. The third set started out back-and-forth, with neither side gaining a clear advantage.
Southwest Valley took a 7-6 lead, stretching it to 10-6 on an ace and mistakes from Nodaway Valley. The Wolverines stormed right back to cut the deficit to 11-10, highlighted by an ace from Yonker and kill from Maddax DeVault.
Yonker was 17-for-17 from serve with four aces to lead the team. DeVault was 14-for-14 from serve with three aces of her own.
Fighting for clear position, Southwest Valley edged a 17-15 lead behind Norah Lund’s serve and never gave up the lead.
“We didn’t commit as many unforced errors,” Wetzel said on the success the Timberwolves found in the third set. “Our serving was pretty good tonight, in the 90%, ... so that was good to see.”
Mullen was 13-for-14 on serves with one ace. Marah Larsen went 9-for-9 with two aces. Samantha Larsen also recorded two aces. Isabelle Inman finished with 28 assists.
For Nodaway Valley, the momentum it had from the the first two sets was gone as things started to die down in the gym.
“We kind of let them back in (the game) in that third set,” Kiburz said. “We had a couple little silly errors that gave them free points. Then a rotation that we got out. That kind of slumped us back a little bit.”
Southwest Valley took the third set, but Nodaway Valley roared back in the fourth, dominating after it took a 5-4 lead.
The closest the Timberwolves came to regaining a lead was 6-5. Nodaway Valley scored nine-unanswered points on Yonker’s serve to take a 15-5 lead, taking advantage of Southwest Valley’s communication miscues and three aces from Yonker.
With a 10-point lead, Nodaway Valley closed things out quickly, allowing nine points as the Wolverines racked up 10 of their own.
“Just coming out in that fourth set to kind of finish the way we did is pretty strong,” Kiburz said. “I think that shows a lot about our team, that they’re not going to give up, and they really want to make sure that they set the tone for the night.”
UP NEXT – Nodaway Valley travels to ACGC for the Chargers’ tournament Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. Southwest Valley has a break in its schedule before traveling to Stanton for a triangular Monday at 5:30 p.m.
Nodaway Valley 3, Southwest Valley 1
Serving (aces) — NV: Maddax DeVault 13-14 (3), Lindsey Davis 1-1, Erin Rhoads 16-17, Isabella Rubio 6-8, Natalie Yonker 17-17 (4), Corinne Bond 13-13 (1), Lexi Shike 10-10 (1), Whitney Lamb 4-4, Kennedy Perkey 5-5. SWV: Tonna Damewood 8-10 (1), Marah Larsen 9-9 (2), Samantha Larsen 11-13 (2), Norah Lund 15-15, Ryanne Mullen 13-14 (1), Isabelle Inman 7-7.
Attacks (kills) — Corinne Bond 57 (12), Lexi Shike 19 (9), Maddax DeVault 17 (6), Emma Perkey 5 (3), Erin Rhoads 11 (2), Madison Long 1 (1), Team: 128 (38). SWV: Kyle Aldrich 22 (12), Marah Larsen 26 (6), Tonna Damewood 22 (5), Samantha Larsen 12 (4), Norah Lund 16 (3), Team: 119 (30)
Blocks — NV: Corinne Bond 2, Lexi Shike 2, Emma Perkey 1, Whitney Lamb 1. SWV: Isabelle Inman 2, Samantha Larsen 2, Kyli Aldrich 1.
Setting (assists) — NV: Lexi Shike 25. SWV: Isabelle Inman 28.
Digs — NV: Lexi Shike 15, Natalie Yonker 15, Corinne Bond 13, Maddax DeVault 12, Erin Rhoads 12. SWV: Norah LUnd 13, Isabelle Inman 12, Marah Larsen 8, Maggie Haer 7.