Momentum lost: Norsemen ride off with sectional crown

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Members of the Hinckley-Big Rock volleyball team, including Heather Weissinger (77) and Kaitlin Phillips (14), leave the floor after falling to Newark during the Class 1A Serena Sectional final. (Rob Winner – rwinner@daily-chronicle.com)

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SERENA – Volleyball can be a game of momentum.

Hinckley-Big Rock had that momentum for the majority of the first game at Thursday’s Class 1A Serena Sectional, leading most of the game.

But just like that, it was gone, and H-BR never really got that momentum back, as Newark swept the Royals 26-24, 25-17.

H-BR (26-9-1) held a 9-3 advantage in Game 1, and later led, 23-18. The Norsemen (25-12) went on a 9-1 run to close out the first game, and the Royals never recovered.

“We had it in the first game,” H-BR coach Don Watson said. “They served us to the point where we couldn’t get a pass to run an offense. I think that was pretty much our whole problem all night.”

Newark coach Tonya Nagel called the Game 1 win the most impressive win she has seen her team pull out.

“We go at it point after point after point,” Nagel said. “I’m impressed with them.”

Newark’s momentum carried over from Game 1 as it got off to a 9-2 advantage in the second game on its way to the 25-17 win. The Royals weren’t helped when Jenna Thorp suffered a minor knee injury and had to go to the bench, but she would end up returning.

“My knee pops out, I was born with the problem,” Thorp said. “Once it pops back in I’m fine.”

Thorp was still able to finish with 11 kills. Kaitlin Phillips added six kills for H-BR.

“We beat ourselves. We definitely should have had that game,” Thorp said. “Newark’s a good ballclub, you can’t take that away from them.”

Newark just kept feeding the ball to Mariah Michaelson and Katie Larson. The Royals didn’t really have much of an answer for either of them.

Larson finished with nine kills while Michaelson had eight.

“(Larson) is such a presence,” Nagel said. “She’s just managing on the court and they’re just following right along.”

H-BR was able to get some key blocks in the first half, but that wasn’t the case the second game.

“We had them just about where we wanted them. We were blocking them in the first game,” Watson said. “We got late on a couple of hits and they put them down.”

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