CUMBERLAND — In a battle of two teams tied for second in the area poll, Northern swept Fort Hill on Tuesday.
The Huskies (6-1, 5-1 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) won 25-19, 25-14 and 25-18.
“Our new lineup looked good,” Northern head coach Jamie Bailey said. “For the most part, they were in a good rhythm. Every once in a while, they got a little stomped, but other than that, they looked pretty good tonight.”
The first two sets played out very similar.
After Northern opened with a big lead, the Sentinels (6-2, 3-2 WestMAC) answered to make it competitive.
Fort Hill hung around, but the Huskies made enough plays late to pull away and end the set.
“I don’t think we played our best game tonight,” Fort Hill head coach Jordan Fradiska said. “Hats off to Northern, I thought they were really scrappy tonight. We just came off a long five-set battle last night with Mountain Ridge, we could’ve been fatigued but that’s not an excuse. We just didn’t come and play the way we should’ve.”
In the first set, Northern took a 4-3 lead on a kill from Marisa Perez off a Natalie Reed assist.
The Huskies scored 10 unanswered points to take a 13-3 lead, led by Reed and Demi Ross.
Reed had five assists, four setting up Ross for kills during the run.
Ross finished with a double-double, recording 19 digs, 14 kills and two aces.
The Sentinels answered with a 9-4 run led by Kamryn Rice’s four assists.
“I told them the crowd doesn’t create the momentum, we create the momentum,” Fradiska said. “Once we can get into it, start getting the crowd into it, they feed off of that. But we can’t wait so long.”
Leading 17-12, Northern outscored Fort Hill 8-7 to end the set.
A Reed to Perez kill ended the first set for the Huskies.
Northern opened the second set on a 12-4 run led by Perez, who recorded two assists and consecutive aces.
She finished with nine assists, four kills and four aces.
“Marisa is really good about staying calm and cool on that second ball,” Bailey said. “So even if it’s out of system, she’s really good about getting there fast, but doing it nice and quiet. Putting it right in the hitter’s sweet spot.”
The Sentinels answered with a 12-4 run of their own, capitalizing off of five Husky errors.
“A little bit of pressing,” Bailey said of what kept Fort Hill in sets. “Just to remind them to play their game and get back into their rhythm. They let Fort Hill start controlling the tempo and we started getting sloppy, sets weren’t on where the hitters needed them and we started playing too safe.”
Now leading 16-12, Northern scored seven unanswered led by Reed’s five assists and an ace to push the lead to 23-12.
Reed finished with 26 assists and two aces.
A Reed to Callie Pudlak kill set up game point, then an error on Fort Hill clinched the set.
Pudlak recorded 10 kills and three blocks.
The Huskies took an early 2-1 lead in the final set on an ace from Brooklyn Bowman and held it the rest of the way.
However, Fort Hill kept it within three or four points for most of the set.
“I think the girls have confidence,” Fradiska said. “We beat them up there, in five sets, came back 0-2, last night came back 0-2 in five sets. I think it was the last minute kinda effort, they knew they could do it because we’ve done it before. We just came up short.”
After a pair of Northern errors and a kill from Kamryn Rice to MaeLeigh Plummer cut the Sentinel deficit to 16-13, the Huskies went on a 11-2 run to set up match point.
Rice recorded a double-double with 21 assists and 11 digs.
Allahna Lacy contributed a pair of blocks and kills during the run.
Facing match point, Perez and Ross teamed up for a kill at the net for the win.
“I think once they needed reminded to find their rhythm, they did,” Bailey said. “And then they wanna finish to 25.”
Jovie Breitfeller (17), Tatum Bishop (13) and Jaiden Fradiska (12) all recorded double-digit digs for the Sentinels.
Fort Hill won the junior varsity game in three sets, winning 25-16, 23-25 and 15-10.
Caiti Wilson led the Sentinels with 16 digs, Summer Welsh had 14 assists and Corrine Spriggs added four kills and three blocks.
Molly Schroyer had seven digs and two kills while Cali Butler added seven digs and an ace for the Huskies.
Northern plays at Berlin on Wednesday before hosting Keyser (4-4) on Monday at 7:15 p.m.
Fort Hill heads to Allegany (2-6) on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
“Allegany-Fort Hill is always a rivalry,” coach Fradiska said. “It’s always a tight match. We go in there just like we do anybody, it doesn’t matter if they’re down, we’re down, it’s always a tight game.”