DARLINGTON — Even though Darlington didn’t have its best stuff, the Redbirds still pulled out a 25-16, 18-25, 25-16, 25-23 victory over the Iowa-Grant Panthers in a SWAL contest Oct. 2. The Redbirds had 15 aces, 44 kills and 14 perfect serve receives, but they also had 12 service errors, 25 attack errors and 12 serve receive errors.
“They’ve improved,” Darlington head coach Danielle Duerst said of Iowa-Grant, whom Darlington had swept in the first conference meeting Sept. 10. “We just came in thinking it was going to be an easy one. We talked about how we want to play our game the entire time and not go to our opponent’s level. A couple of those sets, we beat ourselves.”
Truly, Darlington came out with confidence in the first set. The Redbirds took advantage of their tough serve, winning 64% of their service points. They tallied three aces with just two errors for a 92% serving percentage. Additionally, they hit at a .286 clip — all percentages that were the best of all four sets.
After three early ties, Allie Andrews gave Darlington an 8-7 lead with a sneaky tip on the second ball. Maddie Gratz then followed with a kill on an overpass. The rally continued with two aces by Gratz, forcing Iowa-Grant to make a substitution. But a tip from Catie Hartwig, kill from Lilly Ritchie and Panther attack error gave the Redbirds a 9-point lead that they held to the end of the game.
But after a strong start, Darlington had its worst performance in the second set. The Redbirds had six aces but made four errors in fewer attempts for a 78.9 serve percentage. Six of their 12 serve receive errors occurred in the second game, and they hit at a 0.038 clip with just one more kill than error.
Both teams struggled initially to pull away in that game, with seven ties and three lead changes. Iowa-Grant took the lead for good, 18-17, on a serve receive error by Hartwig. Problems compounded with an illegal rotation called on the Redbirds. After another serve receive error, where Hartwig was called for a lift, Duerst subbed in Sydney Wiegel.
The lineup change did little to slow the Panthers, who closed the set on a 5-2 run, winning on a free ball error.
“That second set, we beat ourselves,” Duerst said. “We have to play to our level and let them earn their own points. There were 10 unforced errors in that set.”
Woes continued in the third, where Hartwig was subbed out once again after back-to-back service and serve receive errors. But she came back strong. Her tip kill later in the set sparked a 7-point run that gave Darlington a 17-12 lead.
“You definitely have to stay positive because you see that score, and you’re like ‘Oh, no,’” Hartwig said. “But you have to push or lose. You have to make sure you are ready to lock in and finish strong.”
And that’s exactly what the Redbirds did. Down the stretch, they limited their errors and went on a 10-3 run to take a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth game, Darlington and Iowa-Grant exchanged points back and forth before the Panthers pulled away with a 6-point run. BreAnn Kohlenberg’s block knotted the set at 10 and a four-hit violation gave Iowa-Grant the lead. The Panthers extended it to 16-10 with a kill from Kohlenberg.
But once again, Hartwig was the spark that pulled Darlington out of its depths. Her attack went off the block and down for a kill. In a similar fashion, Lilly Ritchie tied the set at 16 with a kill off the block.
Darlington fell in another hole, 23-18, before a Panther attack error sent Raynie Norgard to the line.
“We lined up exactly how I wanted to line up for that last rotation with Raynie Norgard serving,” Duerst said. “She has the highest percentage serving (93.3%). Everyone is where they need to be, and we can just go in that rotation. When I saw her go back, I was very pleased, thinking, ‘Yeah, we can come back from this.’”
And Darlington did. The Redbirds closed the set on a 7-point run and received a game-winning tip kill from Andrews.
Norgard finished the game without a single error at the service line in 18 attempts. Hartwig had five aces, followed by Gratz with four. Ritchie led the attack with 11 kills, and Gratz tallied 10. Andrews had 28 of the team’s 39 assists, while a trio of Redbirds had 10 or more digs — Andrews (11), Ritchie (10) and Hartwig (10).
