Both teams fought hard in the battle for East Grand Forks, but in the end, Senior High came out on top.
The Green Wave had an answer for every run that crosstown foe Sacred Heart could throw at them. After dropping two of the first three sets, Senior High found their kill stroke to put away the visiting Eagles 25-10, 19-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-13.
"It's always a good game when we play them," Senior High coach Sara Schnathorst said. "The crowd was in to it."
Senior High came out strong in the first set, taking it 25-10 on the power of sophomore Karly Nelson's serving. Nelson recorded four service aces in the opening set and finished with eight in the match.
"We wanted to serve strong," Schnathorst said. "We ended up serving well all night."
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Senior High met its goal of strong service throughout the game. Along with Nelson's solid showing, junior Danyelle Osowski struck home four aces and the team finished with 15 service aces on the night.
"(Aubrie) Carlstrom was our go-to player tonight," Schnathorst said. "We went to her when we needed it and she came up big for us."
The junior had a team-high 13 kills to go with two aces and one block.
Sacred Heart came alive in the middle sets, going on early runs to put Senior High in the hole. Jumping to a 19-point lead in set two, the Eagles held off a rally from the home team to tie the match at 1-1.
Sacred Heart went on a 10-2 run to open up the third set and held on to take a one-set lead. Brittany Hammond and Stacy Remer used their superior height to their advantage, combining for seven blocks against Senior High's front line.
The end of the game was back and forth with neither team holding a large lead. Senior High took advantage of Sacred Heart's miscues near the end of the match to secure its victory.
"We focused on limiting our end-outs," Schnathorst said. "We wanted to make them make plays and not give them easy points."
Hammond led Sacred Heart with a game-high 14 kills, while Remer and Kate Schoenborn added 10 kills apiece.
