WESTERVILLE — The Northmor volleyball team saw their season end on Saturday afternoon as Newark Catholic edged the Lady Knights 3-2 in a Division IV district championship match.
“Newark Catholic is bigger than us. They have more hitters and our girls were two points away from beating them. They were phenomenal all season,” Northmor coach Josh Lehman said following the match.
Northmor leaped out of gates fast, taking a 6-4 lead and turning it into a 16-7 lead quickly. Northmor maintained a 21-12 lead and finished the first set off with a 25-16 win.
Newark Catholic evened the match by taking the second set 25-21. The Green Wave jumped out to a 16-11 lead after trailing the Lady Knights 7-4 early. After a lot of miscues in the opening set, Newark Catholic stopped hurting themselves to win the second set.
The Green Wave was again victorious in the third set, winning 25-21. This set was as close as it could get. Newark Catholic started off with a 9-5 lead, but then held just a 18-17 lead. The Green Wave closed it out behind some very good defense that made their crowd erupt.
Northmor picked up a must-win in the fourth set to keep their season alive. This one was 7-all early before Newark Catholic jumped out to a 14-10 lead. The Lady Knights fought back to make it a 19-all game. Northmor then finished it out with a huge 25-21 win.
“Our team has battled back all year. They have faced bigger, better teams and forced them to five games,” Lehman said about his team’s performance in set four.
Newark Catholic closed the match out by winning the fifth set. Northmor was up 4-3 early before Newark Catholic came back to lead 9-8. The two teams were tied at 12 before the Green Wave pulled out the 15-13 victory.
Northmor finished the season 19-6 and will lose a handful of seniors. Rachael Ervin, Maggie Tuttle, Riley Yunker, Abby Conant, Reagan Swihart, and Lexi Wenger will graduate in the spring of 2022.
“It’s going to be tough. We’re going to lose some great leadership on the team. We hate to lose seniors every year, but we’re excited on the younger kids taking on a bigger role,” said Lehman.
Newark Catholic (20-6) will face Sarahsville Shenandoah in the Division IV regional semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 4 at Bloom-Carroll High School. Shenandoah defeated Strasburg-Franklin 3-0 in the East district finals.
