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Parkway's volleyball team celebrates after beating New Bremen 3-2 in Tuesday's MAC match in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - The momentum swings in Tuesday night's New Bremen-Parkway volleyball match could have required some medication to stay steady.
Parkway dominated the first set, only for New Bremen to battle back to take the next two sets. The Panthers battled and forced a fifth set, where they were able to get the final two points to hang on for the 25-14, 23-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13 win over the Cardinals in a Midwest Athletic Conference battle at Panther Gymnasium in Rockford.
The Panthers remain unbeaten on the season at 12-0 and keep a share of the MAC lead at 3-0. New Bremen drops just its second match of the season at 10-2 and first MAC game at 3-1.
"It's a tremendous match. I don't know if you can ask for much more as coaches, as players or as fans," said Panther coach Jordan Henkle. "I think our girls just found little ways we talked about just doing little things right."
"It's a game of momentum. Both teams had momentum tonight," said New Bremen coach Diana Kramer. "Both teams made great plays tonight. The atmosphere was awesome. You could flip a coin to see who wins."
Everything went right for Parkway in the opening set. Out of 11 serving opportunities, the Cardinals had just two multiple-serve sets, compared to six for Parkway out of 12 rotations.
"Be confident. Trust the work that we've done," said coach Kramer about what she told the team after the first set.
New Bremen's Charlotte Nelson (8) sets the ball for a teammate against Parkway.
The Cardinals started to play a stronger match in second set. A kill by Maria Kramer gave New Bremen a 15-11 lead. The Panthers tried to close the gap, using a Hadley Stover ace to get within a point at 21-20. New Bremen reached set point at 24-22, but a saving play by KJae Stover turned into a point to get the Panthers to within a point, but Ashtyn Eilerman spiked down the final set to level the match.
The New Bremen momentum continued to build as three-point service runs by Jane Rindler and MariAna Muether had New Bremen in front 11-5. An Eilerman kill later made it 19-11 as the Panthers were unable to get closer than five points the rest of the way.
Set four became a tug-of-war, with 10 ties and five lead changes as New Bremen jumped out 2-0 early before Parkway came back. It wasn't until a Megan Hughes kill put the Panthers in front to stay at 15-14 that things cleared out as the crowd at Panther Gymnasium prepared for a doozy of a fifth set.
New Bremen served first, but lost the serve quickly as Parkway took a 2-0. The Cardinals got back into the set quickly as a Panther double-hit gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Parkway regained the lead at 5-4 on a KJae Stover kill, but the Cardinals regained the lead at 9-8 on an Eilerman kill. A Panther hitting error made it 10-8, but Izzy Knapke got a kill to give Parkway the serve. A Savada Triplett kill knotted it at 10-all, but the Cardinals regained the lead.The Cardinals led 12-11 when they were called for a lift, tying the set again as Triplett went to serve. A Naomi Knapke block gave Parkway a 13-12 lead, but Delaney Heitkamp quickly tied the game with a kill. Naomi Knapke got a kill to give Parkway match point and the serve. After a decent rally, Hughes got the spike to fall to keep the Panthers unbeaten.
"I think we were definitely laser focused, and you know, when you're playing to 15, it's a very razor-thin margin," said Henkle. "You don't have a lot of room for error. Neither team had a lot of errors to let a team go up 3 or 4 points. Each team responded."
"Credit to Parkway, they were the aggressors at the end," said coach Kramer. "They made plays at the end. It came down to a two-point game."
Parkway's Madelyn Stover (1) sets the ball for teammate Cami Langenkamp (12) as New Bremen's Ashtyn Eilerman (1) looks on during Tuesday's match.
Triplett had 15 kills and four aces on the night for Parkway. KJae Stover had 11 kills and 24 assists. Naomi Knapke had 10 kills and Hughes added nine kills. Madelyn Stover added 28 assists as Hadley Stover recorded 16 digs.
Maria Kramer finished with 20 kills and 14 digs for New Bremen. Eilerman added 13 kills, 11 digs and four blocks as Charlotte Nelson recorded 42 assists.
Both teams return to MAC play Thursday. Parkway travels south to St. Henry while New Bremen plays host to Delphos St. John's.
