NorthWood repeated as champions of the Bremen Volleyball Invitational. Photo provided

NorthWood Repeats As Bremen Champs

NorthWood ran through its four games undefeated to win the Bremen Invite championship on Saturday.

NorthWood needed three games to escape Prairie Heights, but then beat John Glenn and Culver Academy in straights to reach the final. Pitted against rival Wawasee in the championship, NorthWood won the title 25-23, 25-17.

Stat leaders for the Panthers (19-4) included Alana Lehman with 21 kills, Alea Minnich with 32 kills, Ali Knepp with 38 digs and 19 kills, Annika Bennett with 25 digs and 15 assists, Kendal Miller with 74 assists and 24 digs and Kennedy Hochstetler with 30 digs.

Wawasee was 3-1, winning all of its pool matches in straight sets over South Bend Adams, Triton and Bremen.

Stat leaders for the Warriors (15-8) included Leslie Vazquez with 25 kills and 12 blocks, Bailey Mayhew with 20 digs, 18 kills and eight aces, Elizabeth Miller with 23 digs and five aces, Dylan Konieczny with 20 kills and Amanda Allen with 73 assists.

Triton defeated Bremen in two and South Bend Adams in three in the pool, then lost in the consolation round to Prairie Heights in two games.

Stat leaders for the Trojans (16-6) included Abbey Viers with 31 kills and four blocks, Addyson Viers with 21 kills and six blocks, Lexia Hostrawser with 15 kills, five blocks and two aces, Emma Hepler with 71 assists and 14 digs, Molly McFarland with 21 digs, Taren Yates with 16 digs and Madeline Doll with 14 digs and two aces.

Warsaw, Valley Compete At Warsaw Invite

Both Tippecanoe Valley and host Warsaw were in action Saturday at Warsaw’s home tournament.

Valley lost both of its matches in pool play, losing 2-0 to Fort Wayne Snider and 2-0 to Fairfield.

Stat leaders for the Vikings (9-9) included Bree Sheetz with 10 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, Mallory Durkes with nine digs and five kills, and Hannah Engstrand with 21 assists.

Warsaw went 1-1 in its two pool games, beating Lakeland 2-0 and falling to Lake Central 2-0.

Stat leaders for the Tigers (18-8) included Avery Hales with 39 assists, seven digs and five kills, Kennedy Lauck with 20 kills, Kendra Love with nine digs and Kylie Smith with 15 digs and three aces.

Bethel 3, Grace 2

Grace’s volleyball team was in the driver’s seat on Saturday against Bethel.

But the Pilots recovered from an 0-2 deficit, rallying to top the Lady Lancers 3-2 at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

Grace struggled to deal with Bethel’s block at the net. The Pilots (6-1, 6-1 Crossroads League) racked up 18 blocks in the five-set victory; the Lady Lancers as a result hit at a .047 percentage.

The match could not have started better for Grace as the Lady Lancers (5-2, 5-2 CL) won the first two sets.

In the opening set, strong serving from Gina Novotny helped Grace to an 8-3 lead. Bethel called timeout, but the tactic did not slow the Lady Lancers as Grace eased ahead 13-3.

The teams traded points for the rest of the set as Grace won 25-17. Anna Frey had four kills in the set.

Bethel jumped ahead to start the second set 11-4, but Grace was prepared. The Lady Lancers unleashed a 10-3 run to tie the score,

Three straight kills from Cassadi Colbert gave Grace an edge, and the Lady Lancers coasted to a six-point win. Katie Swanson picked up five kills in the second set.

The Pilots responded with two dominant sets. Bethel surged ahead early in each set to set the tone.

In the third set, the Pilots led 7-0 en route to a 25-14 win. In the fourth set, Bethel scored the first eight points in a 25-15 win.

Grace seemed to recover at the start of the tiebreaker set, picking up a 6-4 lead.

But the Pilots continued their assault, winning eight of the next 10 rallies. Grace could not slow down Bethel and fell 15-10 in the decisive set.

Colbert led Grace with nine kills and three block assists, and Gabbey Harrington had 39 assists, 7 digs and 4 kills.

Novotny led all players with 16 digs, and Julia Nagy tallied 15 digs.

The Lady Lancers are on the road next week, starting with Goshen on Wednesday at 7 p.m.