The Northwood High School girls volleyball program accomplished something Tuesday it had never done since the school reopened seven years ago.
It won the Battle of the Boulevard at archrival Montgomery Blair, 26-24, 25-22, 12-25, 25-15, to improve its record to 3-7.

“This is so amazing and I don’t know what to think except for the fact my legs hurt since I burned a couple of my leg hairs off by diving on the ground,” senior Ashleigh Smith said. “Seriously though, it is worth it since we get to go a mile back down [University Boulevard] with bragging rights for the first time ever.”
The school reopened for the 2004 season and only fielded a junior varsity team until 2006.

“I’m just happy for the girls,” Gladiators coach Ray Trail said. “JV had never won either so this is a pretty big deal for our program.”

The opening set could have gone either way. Northwood led by four, 14-10, but the Blazers (3-6) responded and actually held set point, 24-23. The Gladiators, however, avoided defeat by recording three straight points to win the set, concluded by consecutive Blair hitting errors.

In the second, Northwood, which has spent most of the season without primary hitter Abbey Sauber due to a broken finger, appeared to be cruising to an easy victory with a 19-11 lead. But the Blazers made things interesting with a 10-0 run that was capped by one of Nika Lilley’s, who played despite injuries to both ankles and her right wrist, match-high 20 kills. The Gladiators did not fold and answered with their own 6-1 run to win the set.

Blair stayed alive with a dominating performance, leading by as many as 14, in the third.

“For some reason game three has been bad luck for us this year,” Smith said. “We regrouped and just needed to make sure number 21 [Lilley] wasn’t going to get another kill without us touching the ball.”

With the match’s momentum hanging in the balance during the fourth, it was Trail’s squad that capitalized. Nursing a 10-9 advantage, Rebecca Cohen ended an extended rally that saw both teams make several spectacular defensive plays with what proved to be the decisive kill. Cohen’s team then scored 14 of the ensuing 20 points to take the match.

“That was a huge sequence for us,” Trail said. “When we make a few mistakes, we get real down and it snowballs. But when we make a couple of plays, like in the fourth, the girls get a lot of confidence and think, ‘Hey! We can do this.’”

Added Blazers coach Chris Klein: “It seemed like we were two different teams. We would execute and then all of a sudden we wouldn’t. … When things weren’t going well, I think we relied a little too much on Nika.”

kzakour@gazette.net