Volleyball: Newman beats Princeton to finish 12-0 in Three Rivers East

Newman wrapped up a perfect 12-0 run to the Three Rivers Conference East Division volleyball championship, defeating host Princeton 25-10, 25-22 Thursday night at Prouty Gym.

It was the first check mark for the Comets’ season, Newman coach Debbi Kelly said.

“I told the girls they accomplished their first goal going undefeated in conference. They did a good job sticking to that as they went into each conference game and doing their job, so that was good to see,” Kelly said.

Princeton (12-19-1) settled for second place in the TRAC East at 8-4.

While the Comets (20-4-1) steamrolled the Tigresses in the first set on Princeton’s Senior Night, Game 2 was a knock-down, drag-out battle.

There were ties at 6-6, 10-10, 15-15, and 18-18.

Olivia Gartin pounded a kill for a 19-18 Princeton lead, only to have Jess Johns answer for the Comets at 19-19.

Morgan Richards tipped for another Princeton lead, with Kennedy Rowzee following with a block to tie it again at 20-20.

The Tigresses took their last lead at 21-20 on a net serve by Newman. Sophia Ely hit for a 23-22 Newman lead, and a block and a Princeton hitting error gave the Comets the 25-22 decision.

Kelly knew Princeton would come fighting back.

“That’s what we talked about. After the first game, I told the girls they can’t stop, Princeton is going to come right back,” she said. “Some of it I think, we didn’t play as aggressively the second game and that helped them out, and Gartin started to pound the ball. We knew they would come back. It was just our girls keeping their focus coming off the first game.”

While pleased they gave a much stronger showing in the second game, PHS coach Andy Puck said it was frustrating it took the Tigresses so long to get going.

“Last conference game of the year and we’re still trying to figure out how to win,” he said. “Give Newman a ton of credit. They play lights-out defense, they recycle every ball, and they’re constantly coming at you. When we’re on our heels playing defense, we actually had some momentum there.

“We had five missed serves in that second set. You have to serve a good team tough. Errors happen. It’s a game of errors, but winning teams recover after errors as fast as possible and are able to catch momentum and bring it back.”

In Game 1, Newman strung six straight points to go up 11-4, and then ran off 10 straight to put the game away at 20-6. Abby Brown came off the bench to hit for a Princeton sideout, but it only momentarily delayed a 25-10 Newman win.

“They ran the table in conference. It was not like it was any surprise. When they get hot, they’re dynamite,” Puck said. “A lot of times, I asked my team, ‘Is it their side of the net or our side of the net?’ And lately, most of the time it’s been our side of the net.”

Gartin led PHS with six kills, Morgan Foes added 2.5 blocks, Miyah Fox had 10 digs, Kelsea Klingenberg finished with six digs and four points, and Isa Ibarra served six points.

Johns led the Comets with seven kills, nine digs and three blocks, while Katie Grennan had eight assists, eight digs, four kills and an ace. Molly Olson had 13 digs, eight assists, a kill and an ace, Rowzee added three kills and two blocks, and Ely finished with four digs, three kills and a block. Sam Ackman had 11 digs and an ace, and Addison Foster chipped in six digs.

Newman will graduate just one senior from this year’s conference champions, but Kelly notes that it’s a “big senior” in the multi-talented Grennan, who is a “good leader for us.”

• Notes: The Princeton freshmen matched Newman’s varsity with a 12-0 finish atop the conference with a 25-9, 25-5 victory. The Tigresses improved to 21-6. ... PHS also won the sophomore match 25-10, 25-8.