Morgan Rode sports@newmedia-wi.com
Leader photo by Morgan Rode Gresham sophomore Makayla Belongia hits the ball back to Northland Lutheran during Tuesday’s match in Gresham.
A Tuesday night showdown with Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division-leading Northland Lutheran figured to be a tough test for Gresham.
The challenge grew when the Gresham players found out coach Tim Wild would miss the game due to illness. Throw that on top of the fact that the team was also hoping to earn the victory on senior night, and Gresham had plenty of reasons to win — but also plenty of pressure to do so.
That pressure seemed to factor into the first set as Northland Lutheran grabbed the lead, but Gresham responded in a big way to earn a key victory. The hosts claimed the battle of the Wildcats, winning by scores of 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-14.
Junior Karisa Nietzer said it was definitely a win for coach Wild. “We knew he was sick, but he really wanted us to win this one. This was a really big match.”
“We wanted to win for him because he wasn’t here, but we also wanted to win because it was our last home game,” senior Kennedy Hoffman said. “There was a lot of pressure because we wanted to win and play our best.”
Gresham improved to 4-2 in the conference and 13-7 overall. The win created a tie atop the CWC-North, with the conference tournament scheduled for Saturday in Marion.
After honoring its seniors, Gresham went toe-to-toe with the conference leaders early on, with the teams splitting the first 20 points. Northland Lutheran took a 14-13 lead shortly after and never looked back.
Gresham fill-in head coach Michelle Hoffman was forced to take both of the team’s timeouts to try and stop the visitor’s run. Gresham cut a five-point deficit down to three before Northland Lutheran took the final three points of the set.
After regrouping, Gresham came out with more focus and intensity in the second set and put the pressure on Northland Lutheran. The visitors won six straight points to take an 11-5 advantage before the hosts rallied.
A pair of kills from sophomore Makayla Belongia helped Gresham surge ahead before Nietzer recorded several kills down the stretch to help the hosts even the match at one. Nietzer finished with a team-leading 17 kills on the night.
Northland Lutheran came out with more urgency in the third set, but tip kills from freshman Valarie Cerveny kept Gresham in it. The hosts rallied multiple times over the next several points and eventually tied the match at 21.
Gresham won the next two points to force a Northland Lutheran timeout before splitting the next four points to claim the third set. Nietzer delivered the game-winning kill.
The final set was again tight in its early stages, as the teams split the first 20 points. Gresham then won nine of the next 10 points before easing to the set and match win.
“This win was huge,” coach Hoffman said. “Coach Wild said after our Manawa loss last week that we needed to fight back. He instilled that in the team that these games were important, and this one was huge.”
Senior Tiana Ferguson tallied 15 service points and 16 digs, while Kennedy Hoffman had seven service points. Cerveny finished the night with 22 assists, while senior Savana Olsen had 16 digs.
Gresham will look to carry the momentum over from its big conference win into the conference tournament Saturday.
“When we can beat good teams like this, that makes us look good and gives us a lot of confidence to go in and say we can do this because we have the desire, we have the passion and we just want to be first in the end,” Kennedy Hoffman said.