'For Real' Panthers Eye Regional Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The day Peg Bough knew she had a special volleyball team was Aug. 19, 1997.
Oh, she always suspected as much heading into the season. But that was the day the coach felt it in her heart of hearts, the day she discovered her hunches were correct.
Her team didn't even win. Her NorthWood Panthers bowed to Penn to start 1997 0-1. But Bough liked what she saw on the court. Her players were competitive, but more importantly, they learned something about themselves.
"After that our girls said, 'We're for real,'" Bough said. "And you know what? After that very first match, I was so excited about our team."
Rightfully so, it turns out. The Panthers lost only three more after that match. They won 29. Now they tote that sparkling 29-4 record into the Wawasee Regional, where they will meet Mishawaka Marian (26-9) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The wins are the most for NorthWood in Bough's seven years there. The wins are nice, but Bough and her players are looking for the one thing that's eluded their grasp in those seven years: A regional championship.
"One goal was to win the sectional," Bough said. "The next was to go to the regional and to win there. We have never won the regional. This is the year we can positively think about winning the regional. I think we have a real shot."
Jamie Gill. Angela Hattery. Natalie Will. Amy Zercher. Colleen Miller. These are the five biggest reasons Bough is optimistic. They are why her team stands at 29-4. They are why her team won its seventh straight sectional.
They are her hitters, the engines that make her team go. Very few - if any - teams have been able to match up five hitters with the likes of NorthWood's five. Each girl owns between 94 and 257 kills. Will and Zercher are juniors, while the other three are seniors.
Bough asked her team to intimidate other teams at the net. The five Panthers have done so.
"I think everybody knows we have five players who can hit," she said. "We can go to any of them anytime in the match. That makes it difficult on other teams."
Difficulty is beating one team three times in one season, and that's the challenge lying ahead of NorthWood. The Panthers met Marian twice in the season. They went 2-0.
NorthWood beat Marian 15-5, 15-12 in the championship match of the Concord Invitational on Sept. 13. NorthWood hosted and beat Marian 15-3, 9-15, 15-3 on Oct. 6.
These teams know each other. They were even beside each other in the final poll, which had NorthWood at No. 9 and Marian at No. 10 in class 3A.
Who has the advantage?
NorthWood, because the Panthers are confident they have Marian's number?
Or the Knights, because they are due to hand NorthWood a loss?
"It's always tough to win three, but mentally we will go in thinking we can do it," Bough said. "The first time our girls played relaxed with a lot of confidence against Marian and won.
"I think because the way we played, we can go in with a lot of confidence. It's not like years past when we would have to go in against Mishawaka or some of the other big schools. The intimidation was always there, and we knew we would have to play the best match of our life.
"I don't think we have that intimidation now."
Maybe not, but Bough knows Marian replaces that intimidation with grit. The Knights will try to frustrate NorthWood, physically and mentally wear the Panthers down. They plan to be that thorn in the side, bur under the saddle.
"Marian is a very solid team," she said. "They don't make many mistakes. They keep at you, keep at you, keep at you. They have a couple of good outside hitters.
"We want to force Marian to make errors. Unforced errors? Marian doesn't do that. Marian is one team we knew at the start of the season we would have to deal with."
The start of the season. That was when Bough's players said, 'We're for real.' The saying developed into more than a rallying cry. They turned it into their team motto. So they wouldn't forget it, they made shirts with the words printed on them.
"For 29 matches, we have come to play," Bough said. "Two matches we didn't show up. We will have to do the things that got us to 29 wins. We have some size advantage. We will have to take advantage of that and use all five of our hitters and blockers at the net.
"Our girls still want to play volleyball at the end of the season. They are."
The winner of the Wawasee Regional will play in the Peru Semistate. The three other regional teams that feed into that semistate will come from Hamilton Heights, Kankakee Valley and Norwell.
NORTHWOOD (29-4)
Statistical leaders (through regular season only)
Kills: Jamie Gill 257, Angela Hattery 140, Natalie Will 134, Amy Zercher 125, Colleen Miller 94
Blocks: Will 49, Gill 36, Zercher 24, Miller 19, Hattery 13
Assists: Marla Yoder 449, Hattery 257
Digs: Yoder 144, Hattery 130, Will 124, Gill 118, Zercher 112, Miller 111 [[In-content Ad]]
The day Peg Bough knew she had a special volleyball team was Aug. 19, 1997.
Oh, she always suspected as much heading into the season. But that was the day the coach felt it in her heart of hearts, the day she discovered her hunches were correct.
Her team didn't even win. Her NorthWood Panthers bowed to Penn to start 1997 0-1. But Bough liked what she saw on the court. Her players were competitive, but more importantly, they learned something about themselves.
"After that our girls said, 'We're for real,'" Bough said. "And you know what? After that very first match, I was so excited about our team."
Rightfully so, it turns out. The Panthers lost only three more after that match. They won 29. Now they tote that sparkling 29-4 record into the Wawasee Regional, where they will meet Mishawaka Marian (26-9) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The wins are the most for NorthWood in Bough's seven years there. The wins are nice, but Bough and her players are looking for the one thing that's eluded their grasp in those seven years: A regional championship.
"One goal was to win the sectional," Bough said. "The next was to go to the regional and to win there. We have never won the regional. This is the year we can positively think about winning the regional. I think we have a real shot."
Jamie Gill. Angela Hattery. Natalie Will. Amy Zercher. Colleen Miller. These are the five biggest reasons Bough is optimistic. They are why her team stands at 29-4. They are why her team won its seventh straight sectional.
They are her hitters, the engines that make her team go. Very few - if any - teams have been able to match up five hitters with the likes of NorthWood's five. Each girl owns between 94 and 257 kills. Will and Zercher are juniors, while the other three are seniors.
Bough asked her team to intimidate other teams at the net. The five Panthers have done so.
"I think everybody knows we have five players who can hit," she said. "We can go to any of them anytime in the match. That makes it difficult on other teams."
Difficulty is beating one team three times in one season, and that's the challenge lying ahead of NorthWood. The Panthers met Marian twice in the season. They went 2-0.
NorthWood beat Marian 15-5, 15-12 in the championship match of the Concord Invitational on Sept. 13. NorthWood hosted and beat Marian 15-3, 9-15, 15-3 on Oct. 6.
These teams know each other. They were even beside each other in the final poll, which had NorthWood at No. 9 and Marian at No. 10 in class 3A.
Who has the advantage?
NorthWood, because the Panthers are confident they have Marian's number?
Or the Knights, because they are due to hand NorthWood a loss?
"It's always tough to win three, but mentally we will go in thinking we can do it," Bough said. "The first time our girls played relaxed with a lot of confidence against Marian and won.
"I think because the way we played, we can go in with a lot of confidence. It's not like years past when we would have to go in against Mishawaka or some of the other big schools. The intimidation was always there, and we knew we would have to play the best match of our life.
"I don't think we have that intimidation now."
Maybe not, but Bough knows Marian replaces that intimidation with grit. The Knights will try to frustrate NorthWood, physically and mentally wear the Panthers down. They plan to be that thorn in the side, bur under the saddle.
"Marian is a very solid team," she said. "They don't make many mistakes. They keep at you, keep at you, keep at you. They have a couple of good outside hitters.
"We want to force Marian to make errors. Unforced errors? Marian doesn't do that. Marian is one team we knew at the start of the season we would have to deal with."
The start of the season. That was when Bough's players said, 'We're for real.' The saying developed into more than a rallying cry. They turned it into their team motto. So they wouldn't forget it, they made shirts with the words printed on them.
"For 29 matches, we have come to play," Bough said. "Two matches we didn't show up. We will have to do the things that got us to 29 wins. We have some size advantage. We will have to take advantage of that and use all five of our hitters and blockers at the net.
"Our girls still want to play volleyball at the end of the season. They are."
The winner of the Wawasee Regional will play in the Peru Semistate. The three other regional teams that feed into that semistate will come from Hamilton Heights, Kankakee Valley and Norwell.
NORTHWOOD (29-4)
Statistical leaders (through regular season only)
Kills: Jamie Gill 257, Angela Hattery 140, Natalie Will 134, Amy Zercher 125, Colleen Miller 94
Blocks: Will 49, Gill 36, Zercher 24, Miller 19, Hattery 13
Assists: Marla Yoder 449, Hattery 257
Digs: Yoder 144, Hattery 130, Will 124, Gill 118, Zercher 112, Miller 111 [[In-content Ad]]