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Panthers volleyball leads District 11 after win against Eagles

By Sue Sitter - | Sep 24, 2022

Sue Sitter/PCT Panthers middle hitter Kendra Leier launches a kill against the Newburg-Westhope Eagles at Rugby High School on Sept. 15.

The Rugby Panthers volleyball squad is undefeated in District 11 games after two decisive wins against Nedrose and Newburg-Westhope on Sept. 13 and 15.

The Panthers established a winning record with a 3-0 victory at Nedrose on Sept. 13. Two days later, the Panthers hosted Newburg-Westhope’s Eagles in Rugby High School’s Charlie Hanneman Gym.

Against the Eagles, the Panthers leaped to an early lead in set 1 with a service ace by Joey Wolf. From there, Rugby’s front line of blockers Peyton Hauck, Kendra Leier and Lacie Deplazes put 9 unanswered points on the board before an Eagles spike ricocheted off Hauck.

A Rugby net return followed before a kill by Leier set things right again. The Eagles would manage only four points until midgame.

Errors by the Panthers gave Newburg three more points before setter Ellie Braaten made the Eagles’ first kill.

There was no stopping Rugby. Leier racked up kill after kill, while outside hitter Mykell Heidlebaugh blocked any attempt at an Eagles attack.

Eagles Coach Lauren Cunningham called a timeout when the Panthers had a 14-point lead. After that, Newburg-Westhope fought through a long rally to reduce that by one.

Next, the Eagles caught the Panthers off guard.

Errors on both sides followed, but Rugby inched toward the game point. A service ace by Leier wrapped up the set 1 win for the Panthers.

The second set followed a similar pattern, but the Eagles refused to give up. Middle blocker Kimberly Taberez kept several rallies going and fell over a chair on the sidelines trying to save a point.

The ball seemed to wind up in the net more for the Panthers. The Eagles shrank their deficit to 21-16 with a kill from outside hitter Nevaeh Juntenen.

A kill by Taberez would follow, and the Eagles narrowed the Panthers’ lead to 21-17.

After a misserve gave the Eagles another point, a kill and a service ace gave Rugby the 25-18 set win.

In set 3, Taberez made a kill, putting the Eagles in the lead for a few minutes. The Panthers scratched their way to a 4-4 tie, then put some distance ahead of the Eagles.

Blocks and kills helped the Panthers climb to a 13-4 lead. As both teams fought it out, Rugby stayed ahead, by eight or nine points, recovering from a few errors due to mixed signals on the court or net violations.

The Panthers’ defense kept the game under control.

After the Eagles won a sideout at game point for the Panthers, Heidlebaugh took the set back for Rugby by tipping an attack just inside Eagles’ territory for the 25-15 final set win.

The win put Rugby in first place in District 11.

Panthers Coach Jessica Fritz said in-district games “are the important ones. Tonight, we were able to get everyone on the floor so they could see what some of our district teams are like and it’s a big win for us.”

The Panthers hosted the TGU Titans on Sept. 20.

The Titans had won a big game against District 12’s undefeated South Prairie the week before.

“They went five with them. Towner’s a team we’re going to have to be ready for. It doesn’t matter if they’ve won seven games in a row or lost seven in a row. We’ve just got to go in and play our game,” Fritz said.

Fritz noted the Panthers were beginning to feel more comfortable in the new positions she assigned them at the beginning of the season.

“The girls are finally fitting into their roles,” she said. “The leaders are really stepping up now. Some of these girls didn’t get to play last year with the seniors we had last year, and now they’re finally figuring out how to get on top of it and play the game they know how to play.”

Stats for the Panthers game against Newburg-Westhope were:

Panthers 3-0; 25-11, 25-18, 25-15

Kills: Kendra Leier, 7; Joey Wolf, 6; Peyton Hauck, 6

Aaces: Hauck, 4; Wolf, 3

Blocks: Mykell Heidlebaugh, 1

Digs: Joran Jundt, 14; Wolf, 11

Assists: Wolf, 22.