Volleyball: Hot start, stellar serving power Newman past Newark in Class 1A Sectional semifinal

FORRESTON – The Newman Comets came out firing in the opening set of their Class 1A Forreston Sectional semifinal Monday night against the Newark Norsemen, and finished strong in the second set to secure a 25-13, 25-14 win and a spot in the championship match.

The Comets raced to a 6-0 lead right away with the help of two Kennedy Rowzee kills, a Katie Grennan ace and a Jess Johns kill. That momentum continued for the rest of the set, as Johns hammered a kill for a 10-3 lead, Molly Olson served an ace for an 18-6 lead, and Grennan served three straight aces to close out the 25-13 first-set win.

“I think that really matters with everyone on the team. It brings the energy up, especially coming right from the start, and getting it to pick up really fast,” Grennan said of the immediate 6-0 run. “It brings a lot of energy to all the players.”

[ Photos from Newman vs. Newark 1A sectional semifinal ]

Newark started faster in the second set, but only kept pace for about half of it. Newman jumped out to a 4-0 lead right away on Grennan’s fifth and final ace, but the Norsemen clawed their way back, briefly tying it up at 6-6 on a Kiara Wesseh kill. Johns spiked a kill for a 7-6 lead shortly after, and it was all Comets from there.

Olson served her second ace for a 10-7 lead, then Rowzee crushed a kill to make it 17-12. Olson and Grennan slammed back-to-back kills for the 23rd and 24th points before a Newark hitting error sealed the 25-14 win.

“I think when we start off strong, it just gives us that confidence,” Olson said. “And we never let off, we just kept pushing.”

“Just the trust in one another to get the ball over and in, that’s what we practice a lot,” Grennan said of the strong serving. “We do a good amount of serving to really get us going in games like these.”

Johns spiked seven kills and hit six digs, and Grennan served five aces, spiked three kills and dished 10 assists. Olson hit five digs, served two aces and dished eight assists, Rowzee hammered five kills, and Addison Foster added eight digs for the Comets, who served eight aces.

Lauren Ulrich led Newark with four kills and an ace, while Wesseh spiked three kills and Kodi Rizzo added two kills.