Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE - NorthWood's volleyball team, which saw its record drop to 7-8, has done everything last year's 30-5 team did.
Win sectional. Win regional.
And now make it to the final four.
A year ago, the 30-5 team advanced to the semistate, where it lost in the first round. This year's 23-10 team finds itself in the same place.
NorthWood faces 25-8 Andrean, ranked No. 7, in Saturday's Peru 3A Semistate. Bishop Dwenger (20-13) meets No. 1 Delta (29-6) in the 11 a.m. game, while NorthWood and Andrean follow. The championship match takes place at 7:30 p.m.
"This team has surprised people that we got this far," NorthWood coach Peg Bough said. "At the beginning of the season, we were sitting at 7-8, but I knew we had to be patient, go slowly and stay positive."
NorthWood's turnaround came Sept. 17, when the Panthers lost to Bremen. NorthWood has won 16 of 18 since that loss.
"Since then, we've been beaten by only Indianapolis Chatard and Warsaw," Bough said. "Bremen was the wakeup call. We decided we had enough of it. We should have beaten Bremen."
The team the Panthers beat last week to win the Mishawaka Regional was Plymouth. The score was 15-12, 15-12. When they beat the Pilgrims, they beat a team that had every motivation to beat NorthWood. Earlier in the year, NorthWood embarrassed Plymouth 15-1, 15-8 on its home court.
"I felt like we dodged a lot of bullets," Bough said. "I give Plymouth a lot of credit because they played well. But we got side outs when we need them, and we scored when we needed to. It was a struggle. By no means did we play our best, but our kids came through."
Coming through, as always, was senior middle hitter Natalie Will. Will led the team with 14 kills and 11 digs. Her 14 kills were twice as many as anyone else on the team.
"Natalie Will has been in a great streak, and she played well again Saturday," Bough said. "I give her credit, and I give Kacey Chamberlin credit. Those two stood out.
"They said, 'Girls, we are going to do this.'"
1998 Peru 3A Semistate
No. 1 Delta (29-6) vs. Bishop Dwenger, 11 a.m.
No. 7 Andrean (25-8) vs. NorthWood (23-10), following first match
