The North Platte Lady Bulldogs earned a 3-1 win over Grand Island Northwest Thursday night in Grand Island.
The No. 6 Lady Dawgs wasted no time jumping out on top of the Lady Vikings by taking set one with a 25-20 win. Three big hitters stepped up to lead North Platte in the set. Senior Jessy Hunt and juniors Olivia Nicholson and Allison Kuenle each had three kills. Hunt finished the match with eight kills and a number of big blocks to help lead North Platte in the win. She said she enjoyed the hostile crowd at GI Northwest.
“I was feeding off the crowd,” Hunt said. “It was just loud and when it’s loud I just get all pumped up.”
Coach Laura Miller liked what she saw out of one of the team’s senior leaders.
“She had some blocks that were more like spikes than blocks so we were like ‘whoa’ that was great for momentum for us,” Miller said. “She’s driven and wants to set that block record this year.”
In set number two GI Northwest, the fourth-ranked team in Class B, jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead before the Lady Dawgs came storming back and went on an 11-1 run to go up 12-6. But the Lady Vikings went on a run of their own and took a 24-23 lead before North Platte regained the lead and took the set 27-25. Nicholson and Kuenle once again led the way with four kills each.
The third set North Platte’s communication dropped and GI Northwest took advantage of it as they came up with some big blocks and won 25-18 to force a fourth set. Nicholson led the way in the third set with five kills.
The Dawgs jumped on top in the fourth set and dominated from then on out with a decisive 25-17 win. Nicholson once again stepped up big with six kills in the fourth set. Senior Kaitlynn Harvey followed with four kills to help ensure the victory. Miller said the team this year has the desire to get the job done.
“They are so driven,” she said. “My job is pretty easy right now, I’m kind of enjoying this. They tend to take care of business.”
Hunt said the team has focused on finishing matches and sets this season.
“We made it a goal to finish,” she said. “We’re also a lot closer this year. We were close last year but we are even more this year. We play for each other and really emphasize playing as a team.”
North Platte, which moved up to No. 6 in the rankings this week, has now beaten four ranked opponents in a row in its 5-0 start. The streak started with Class C1 No. 3 Ogallala, followed by then No. 8 Lincoln North Star, followed by then No. 4 Lincoln Southwest, before Thursday night’s win over Class B No. 4 Grand Island Northwest.
Hunt said that the team’s hustle has been a key to the fast start.
“We just work hard and always want to get better,” Hunt said. “Every practice we try to push ourselves.”
The Lady Bulldogs will next play at home Saturday as they host the Bulldog Triangular. The Bulldogs from both Gering and Alliance will make the trip from the Panhandle to compete. North Platte plays Gering at 12 noon to begin the Tri then the Dawgs will finish the day with a 2:00 pm match against Alliance.
Miller said she needs to make sure her team doesn’t over look Gering and Alliance after playing so many ranked teams leading up to the Bulldog Triangular.
“That emotional let down is the big deal,” Miller said. “We’re going to go after it and try to do our game plan and play our game to avoid that.”
| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
| North Platte |
25 |
27 |
18 |
25 |
3 |
| GI Northwest |
20 |
25 |
25 |
17 |
1 |
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Understanding how concussions affect the brain is a hot topic in sports and medicine, so an expert from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will explain some of the latest research later this month.
