MIDDLEBURY - Like a running back pounding out gains of eight and nine yards per carry, NorthWood's varsity volleyball team got points in chunks and used quick starts in both games against Wawasee Thursday in the Northridge (3A) Sectional to top the Warriors 15-12, 15-4.

The Panthers, who advanced to the semistate two years ago but fell in the sectional opener last year, improved to 26-7 with the win; Wawasee, which has played NorthWood in the sectional three of the last four years, ends its season with a 22-11 record.

If it were a football game, junior Carol Duncan, listed as 6-foot-1 on last year's basketball roster, was NorthWood's bruising fullback.

Numerous times last night Duncan returned the ball to Wawasee's side of the net with sheer power, shots the Warriors could do nothing with.

"She has matured a lot," NorthWood coach Peg Bough said of Duncan. "She has just grown. She hits some out, but she comes right back and gets you."

Duncan finished the evening with nine kills, seven digs, two blocks (one solo, one assist) and five service points. Junior Katie Chamberlin finished with 10 kills, an ace and a solo block, while her sister Kasey, a senior, finished with nine assists and a solo block.

Warrior junior Candice Brown served up the game's first point, but after the next sideout, NorthWood senior Jessica Yoder's serving put the Panthers up 5-1.

"It's a real key for us to get started like that," Bough said. "We want to get Duncan going right away. Tonight that (early lead) helped I thought."

Though it looked as if the Panthers would run away with it, Wawasee came back to take a 6-5 lead on service points from juniors Kathy Likens and Angie Weybright. From there, the teams were tied at 6-6 and 8-8 before NorthWood took a 14-9 advantage. But as they did before, the Warriors refused to go down without a fight and came back with three service points from junior Jessie Korenstra to cut the lead to two, 14-12.

Duncan served up the final point for NorthWood in the first game.

Much like they did in the first game, the Panthers jumped out to an early lead that was too much for the Warriors to overcome. Behind serves from Duncan, junior Allison Taylor and senior Jessica Yoder, NorthWood led 6-0, and eventually 12-2.

While Bough bragged up her team's power game, Wawasee coach Jason Fleming was convinced that it was his team's lack of execution that did itself in.

"I don't think their power has much to do with it," Fleming said. "We just didn't execute. Everybody saw them hitting hard, but that wasn't much of a factor. We knew who they would go to. They only have three hitters, and they only used three hitters. We didn't get the blocks we needed. We didn't have execution on our passes."

After numerous sideouts, Wawasee sophomore Jessica Leach served up two points to bring the Warriors as close as 12-4.

But this time the deficit was too huge too early, and Kasey Chamberlin finished the second game with three more service points.

"Things kind of slipped away in the second game," Fleming said. "We dug ourselves a hole. Volleyball is such a momentum game, when you dig yourselves a hole like that, it's hard to get out."

NorthWood will play Lakeland Saturday at 11 a.m. Lakeland (19-12) advanced by topping West Noble (23-9) in Thursday's first match.

NORTHWOOD DEF. WAWASEE 15-12, 15-4

NorthWood stats

Kills - Katie Chamberlin 10, Carol Duncan 9, Kasey Chamberlin 7, Carlea Howard 2

Assists - Allison Taylor 12, Ks. Chamberlain 9

Aces - Ke. Chamberlin 1, Chelsey Bowers 1

Blocks - Duncan 2, Ky. Chamberlin 1, Ke. Chamberlain 1

Digs - Jessica Yoder 10, Duncan 7, Bowers 6

Wawasee stats

Kills - Jessica Leach 4, Chrissy Kime 3, Kim Likens 3, Kathy Likens 3

Assists - Candice Brown 10

Aces - Angie Weybright 2, Bria Pletcher 2

Blocks - Erica Auker 1, Km. Likens 1, Leach 1

Digs - Likens 8, Pletcher 7, Ky. Likens 7

Records: NorthWood 26-7, Wawasee 22-11

Other first-round match - Lakeland (19-12) def. West Noble (23-9) 16-14, 7-15, 15-7 [[In-content Ad]]