NEVC loses home-opening thriller to Liberal

Friday, September 3, 2021
NEVC's Ashlee Keith (4) and Liya Bailey-Thompson (12) rise up for a block during the Lady Knights' 3-2 home-opening loss to Liberal Thursday night in Walker.
Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

WALKER — In its season-opener Tuesday night at Lakeland, the Northeast Vernon County High School volleyball team learned it can come back from a two-set deficit.

In the team’s home-opener Thursday against Liberal, the Lady Knights found out how it feels to surrender a 2-0 lead.

In a word: ouch.

“It was tough. The girls were definitely let down about that,” said NEVC head coach Emma Schellpeper, whose squad gained the early momentum with 25-18, 25-19 wins to open the night — only to fall in the next three sets, 14-25, 24-26, 7-15. “They played so well in the first and second game, like a well-oiled machine. And then things got messy real quick.”

The Lady Knights (1-1) actually trailed 5-0 to start the first set, before a string of kills by senior Emma Bruce and juniors Moriah Ashby and Avery Minor and aces by junior Crae Hutchinson and sophomore Ashlee Keith eventually gave them a lead it would not relinquish.

The second set went back-and-forth, with late kills by Keith and junior Charity Middleton, plus an ace by Bruce, ultimately helping NEVC pull away.

Liberal found its stride in the third set, though, then eked out a thrilling two-point victory in the fourth.

Middleton almost saved the day with a run of three straight aces, a kill from the back row, and another ace midway through the set, followed later by a spike that tied it up at 22-22 and ignited the home crowd.

“Charity’s a great teammate, in terms of support and helping out the other girls, and then she’s a strong player all-around. Really good technically,” Schellpeper said.

Unfortunately for NEVC, Liberal was able to fire up its own crowd who made the trip by taking the fourth set and riding that momentum for a dominating, deciding fifth.

“I think it shifted anytime we did not get a serve in, especially in that fourth game,” said Schellpeper, whose squad was brilliant behind the service line at times throughout the night but gave up too many free points when it most needed rallies, or simply found Liberal’s libero too often. “By the end, we finally got it together, but even the girls would say we lost communication, we lost our serving ability, and then we kept hitting to the sixth position.

“Hopefully, this is motivation to finish it while you can. Don’t let them back in.”

The Lady Knights will have a few days off before they head to McAuley Catholic on Tuesday.

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