In a back-and-forth battle between Nooksack Valley and Meridian volleyball, neither team led by more than five points and the Pioneers squeaked out a five-set win (21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13) on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at Meridian High School.
The Pioneers led through mostly every set except the fifth set, where they pushed late to secure the victory. In the fifth set, Meridian took a 5-1 lead with kills from four separate players, but Nooksack Valley responded with a couple of kills from Elizabeth De Lange.
Nooksack Valley and Meridian were tied at 13-13 until Pioneers’ Gracie Rutgers got an ace and Meridian fired a shot wide to end the match.
De Lange led the Pioneers with 17 kills and three blocks on the night. Meridian’s Melanie Short had 20 kills and three aces.
Gallery: Nooksack Valley volleyball edges Meridian
Nooksack Valley also won the second and fourth sets. Meridian led the second set until both teams were tied at 14-14. Rutgers got two kills and De Lange had three toward the end of the set to secure the victory.
Both teams were tied at 22-22 in the fourth set until two Meridian errors and a kill from Grace DeHoog secured the set.
Meridian won the first and third sets. In those sets, the Trojans took early leads and held the Pioneers from tying it. In the first set, Meridian had a 10-5 lead from four attacking errors from Nooksack Valley, then held onto the lead with six kills from Short.
In the third set, Meridian’s Taya Beuson scored four kills and four aces, including three of the first four points. Both teams were tied at 22-22 until Meridian’s Eden Bernardy had three kills to secure the third set.
Nooksack Valley (5-4, 4-3 Northwest Conference) will host Mount Baker on Thursday, Oct. 10, and Meridian (5-5, 4-4 NWC) will travel to Sedro-Woolley.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
