East Grand Forks Senior High has had a lot of close sets this season where the Green Wave struggled to hold leads.
East Grand Forks Sacred Heart’s volleyball team has had a tendency to erase deficits and rally for wins.
The patterns held true Tuesday. Sacred Heart rallied in each of the final two sets for wins, sweeping the visiting Wave 25-16, 25-18, 28-26.
Sacred Heart overcame a 17-14 deficit in the second set. In the third set, the Eagles’ only lead was when they scored the final three points for the win.
“We’ve had teams take 3-, 4-, 5-point leads on us,’’ Eagles coach Emily Vonasek said. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s been a bit of a pattern. We let teams go up, then we’ve usually been able to come back.
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“I guess that’s a good trait, being able to put it together when you have to.’’
Sacred Heart closed the second set on an 11-1 run for the win. After a Sydney Lloyd kill for a side out pulled the Eagles within 17-15, Macyn Bloom served nine straight points, four of them on Maddi Mitzel kills, for a 24-17 lead. Mitzel put away another kill for set point.
In the third set, the Eagles were down 22-17 before rallying. Senior High took its last lead at 26-25 on a Jessie Helgeland kill. But Sacred Heart answered with three straight points, two of them -- including match point -- by Ivy Edwards.
“Keeping a lead, finishing a set -- we’ve struggled with that all year,’’ Senior High coach Paula Devine said. “We’ve been competitive in almost every set all season. But we can’t finish.
“I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because they have 6-footers and 5-8 is as tall as we are. I thought we got our hands on a lot of shots. Our defense was great. I was happy with our effort. We just couldn’t put the ball down.’’
Sacred Heart held a 49-32 advantage in kills. Edwards finished with 17 kills and Mitzel 14 to lead the 21-4 Eagles. Edwards had a strong all-around match.
“Ivy really sparked our defense,’’ Vonasek said. “They (Wave) were digging well. Our hitting wasn’t as successful as normal. But Ivy was getting to a lot of their shots. She’s quick and reads shots well.’’
Oksana Kroese’s 11 kills led the 7-17 Wave, with Helgeland adding eight. Brooke Boman had 17 digs to lead the defense.
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