Moving to the district championship was just part of the highlights on Tuesday night for the North Adams Lady Devils volleyball squad. In the midst of a big four-set win, senior Keetyn Hupp reached a memorable milestone early in the third set with the 1,000th kill of her high school career.
North Adams upsets Nelsonville-York in four sets
A secret to the North Adams volleyball success this season has been the serving and digging ability of Kirsten Campbell. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
No one told the North Adams Lady Devils volleyball squad that they were the underdogs. The #9 seeded Lady Devils went into Tuesday night’s Division III district semi-final match with a 16-7 record on the season, certainly quite respectable, but on the other side of the net were the 22-1 Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes, seeded #4. On paper that didn’t look like a good match up for North Adams but as the old sports adage goes, “the games aren’t played on paper”.
Behind an outstanding all-around performance in all phases of the game, strong serving and powerful play at the net, the Lady Devils pulled off the stunner and knocked off the Lady Buckeyes in four sets- 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19. The win moved the Lady Devils into the Division III district championship game for the first time in nearly a decade after a run of disappointing district defeats, but the tables turned on Tuesday. As an added bonus, North Adams senior hitter Keetyn Hupp picked up the 1,000th kill of her high school career early in the third set.
“I can’t tell you right off what year we last went to the district finals,” said North Adams head coach Katie Ragan in her postgame interview. “It’s not something we experience very often so we’re pretty excited. We beat a quality Nelsonville-York team tonight and whenever you come to the district tournament the volleyball is really good because as you travel east from us the volleyball just gets better and better. The Southern Hills Athletic Conference is known more as a girls soccer conference in the fall and the girls’ soccer teams in the conference have gone much further in tournaments than the girls volleyball teams. WE’ll go to the district finals on Saturday and see how we do.”
In a game played on the neutral site at Eastern Pike High School, things looked bleak early for the Lady Devils as Nelsonville-York busted out of the gate to the tune of a 7-1 lead. With Riley Richey beginning the serving parade, the North Adams girls began to chip away at the deficit, pulling within 12-10 after a kill by sophomore Katelynn Boerger and a pair of Hupp service points. Trailing later in the set 16-13, the Lady Devils took their first lead with Boerger serving four consecutive points after the side out to put her team up 18-16 and they never trailed again in the set.
With a Natalie Ragan service ace and three more Hupp kills, the Lady Devils went up 23-21 and finished off the first set with the final two points coming on a kill by Daisy Holt and a Boerger block.
The second set was tight early until North Adams reeled off five straight, culminating with a Hupp ace. A later kill by Holt and two service points from the team’s unsung hero, Kirsten Campbell, extended the lead to 11-5. After Nelsonville got the next three points, the Lady Devils made a statement, scoring seven in a row with senior Brea Stout serving and Riley Richey and Boerger each adding a pair of kills. That gave North Adams a double digit advantage at 18-8 and they didn’t let up, taking the second set 25-15, the final point being another Boerger kill.
The highlight of the third set for North Adams came quick as Hupp blasted another kill, this one being memorable, the 1,000th of her career, only the third player in Lady Devils history to achieve that milestone. The third set turned out to be the closest one of the match, with the Lady Buckeyes attempting to stave off elimination. North Adams took an early 6-3 lead but the Lady Buckeyes battled back to take a lead , but just as quickly, the Lady Devils were back in front, a Boerger kill making it 13-8.
“Keetyn pretty much accomplished here 1,000 kills in two seasons,” said Coach Ragan. “She has played varsity since she was a freshman but she only got like 60 kills that season and about 80 her sophomore year. Her junior year she had over 400 kills and this year she is over 430 kills. She is having a really great season and she took over the leadership role on our team this year, and she is getting all these kills with a freshman setter.”
With their backs to the wall, the Lady Buckeyes responded by grabbing 11 of the set’s next 14 points to take a 19-16 lead. With three Campbell service points, the Lady Devils pulled to within 24-23 and had some momentum but a lift called on them was the final point as Nelsonville stayed alive with a 25-23 win.
“I think we surprised them in teh first set and then carried that momentum over to the second,” said Coach Ragan. “I think we were tight in the third set and started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We justplayed it safe too much instead of just hitting the ball hard back over the net. Wes truglled passing their serve in the third set and to their credit, they did not go away after they lost the first two sets. We didn’t respond well to that.”
With the momentum shifting a little towards the Lady Buckeyes after their third set win, The Lady Devils took an early lead in the fourth after a trio of Boerger service aces. The two sides sapped points until a side out gave the serve back to North Adams’ Campbell and she rattled off seven straight to push “mighty mo” right back to her team with an 18-10 advantage.
Nelsonville temporarily put a stop to the bleeding with the next five points going their way but that run was quickly halted with a pair of Boerger kills. After the Lady Buckeyes picked up the next two points, a pair of Richey kills gave her team a 22-17 lead. With the Lady Devils up 24-19 and at match point, fittingly Hupp took card of business with her final kill of the night, one that sent the North Adams girls on to the district championship contest.
“To win the fourth set I basically told our girls. “Did we really think we were going to come to the district tournament and win a match in three sets’? The opponents are all good and are going to keep coming after you so you have to keep pushing and I also told then to get some of that confidence back. Missing a couple of digs doesn’t mean you’re going to miss all of them the rest of the match.”
“Scouting us is pretty easy because we’re a middle dominant team. Teams practice for that so we need other hitters who aren’t in the middle to step up and take some good swings so we make the defense adjust and I thought Daisy Holt, Brea Stout and Riley Richey gave that to us tonight. It as a good team effort and all our girls came to play.”
That district championship game will take place on Saturday, October 29 at 5 p.m. at Waverly High School and once again the Lady Devils will be considered the underdog as they face #3 seeded and two-loss South Webster,a volleyball power in Division IV who jumped up to Division III this season. A win would mean the first volleyball district title for North Adams and a trip to the regional tournament at Logan High School on November 3.
