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Smithville digs Northwestern, serves up victory September 20, 2007 By Jim Jicha Smithville really must have dug their trip home from West Salem Northwestern Tuesday night. They’d just spent the evening digging the Huskies’ junior outside hitting tandem of 6’1” Kara Koch and 5’7” Kristen Warner. Koch and Warner scored 35 and 23 kills, respectively, but Smithville defenders kept enough of their missiles from reaching the floor to make a difference. Meanwhile, the Smithies’ serving was a tad shy of perfect, with one error all evening. As a result Smithville overcame the fourth ranked Huskies 25-22, 19-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-11. The Smithies ran the Wayne County Athletic Conference table last year with a 14-0 mark that included two tough wins over the Huskies. But graduation hit Smithville harder, and they came into this match an underdog, having lost last week to Creston Norwayne, a team Northwestern had beaten in week one. Game one was a nail biter with 18 ties. Northwestern went up 4-2 and again 8-7, led by Koch and Warner, as the Smithie’s sophomore hitters Jenna Pew and Alex Leister kept pace. Northwestern took their biggest lead at 19-16 when Koch blasted one from back court and Warner tore into an over pass. But after a Husky hitting error, Pew spiked a kill and Smithville ran off a game high four straight points. The Smithies then obliged with a long hit, and Warner clocked a cross court point for a 21-20 lead. But Pew turned an errant pass into a line drive kill, and after a diving save by Indermuhle, the Huskies hit into the net. Warner retied it at 22, but an untimely net serve was forthcoming. Indermuhle then dug Koch as Horst pounded point 24, and a long Husky hit ended it. The second set started even tighter with nine ties to 9-9. Then Northwestern scored six on a kill by Koch, two aces by outside Damian Greene, a kill by Kelsey Reed and a stuff block by Koch. Pew scored four points as Smithville tied it at 18-18. But Warner tipped for a point, Tarah Spotts followed with an ace, and soon after Koch buried two points for the win. Game three saw four ties to 5-5, after which Smithville built a 15-9 margin. But a knock down kill by Koch started a big run by Northwestern. Setter Marisa George served an ace, and after Pew temporarily interrupted things, Spotts scored twice to fuel a five point run to a tie at 16. A serving error gave Smithville its final lead, after which the Huskies were off to the races. Warner retied it and libero Kim Bowman served the Huskies to 24. Smithies’ libero Leah Martin stopped the run with a kill, and on the next volley she and Indermuhle dug multiple spikes by Warner and Spotts, before Koch delivered the coup de grace from back row. Unable to sustain their momentum, the Huskies started game four with three hitting errors, and Smithville led all the way. Northwestern did not go quietly, however. Trailing 12-5, they closed to 15-14 behind Koch and Warner, and abetted by Smithville hitting errors. The teams traded points to 18-17, until Pew and Horst rallied Smithville to 23-18 lead. Alex Leister scored the game winner. The first four points of the tiebreaker came on hitting errors as Smithville garnered a 3-1 lead, which they never relinquished. Horst upped it to 4-1. Koch tipped for a point. After a controversial replay erased yet another kill from her tally, she blocked a tip by Pew. The next volley was intense and was ended by Pew. Horst upped the lead to 6-3 with a spike off a block. Koch scored on a knock down, and contributed to another point with a diving save that was followed by a Smithville net infraction. But Horst then found an empty spot in the middle back, and two long hits by the home team put the Smithies up 9-5. Warner blasted a short set from George, but Alex Leister contributed two points with Martin digging to avert another Warner kill, and soon the Smithies were up 12-6. Warner smoked two more kills in a three point Northwestern run, but Alex Leister came back with a spike that was blocked over and out, and Pew turned an off set into a line drive that was shanked out. Warner scored again and a double hit by Smithville left the score 14-11. Alex Leister put the game on ice with a kill off the block. A very happy Smithville Heidi Hartzler said afterward “We wanted to play with confidence, play our hearts out and play one hundred percent no matter what”. In an understatement, she added “I guess we did”. ***************************************************************************** Smithville Stats: Kills: Jenna Pew 27, Alex Leister 10, Alyssa Horst 8 Assists: Jena Hartzel 28, Lauren Leister 19 Digs: Bethany Indermuhle 20 Blocks: Pew 5 (solo)
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