Tigers fry Falcons on senior night

NEW LONDON - West Burlington made No. 10 New London work, especially in the final two sets of the Tigers' SEISC South Division win on Thursday night, but New London hung on in the fourth for a 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23 victory.

The Tigers had little problem in the first two games. Senior Addie Pry tallied five kills and an ace in the first game to lead the team to a comfortable eight-point win, and freshman Keaura Williams had four kills and a block in the second. After two sets, it looked like it might be a short night.

West Burlington showed its pesky side in the third set, however. Star hitter Sydney Marlow led a ferocious charge as the Falcons traded punches with the Tigers all set long. Then, with the game tied 22-22, West Burlington closed it out with three straight points to force a fourth game.

'We knew we had to not let Marlow take charge of the game at that point,” said New London head coach Maureen Heath. 'She's such a great player, and we couldn't let her just swing swing swing away.”

Marlow and the Falcons gave the Tigers plenty of trouble in the fourth set. West Burlington led 8-6 early before five-straight Tiger points flipped the score to 13-8 in favor of the home squad. New London led by as much as five points, at 18-13, but West Burlington clawed back to cut the lead to one point on three different occasions; 18-17, 22-21 and 24-23.

When it came time to close out the match, another senior came up clutch. Alexa Wenger finished with the final kill, stopping the Falcon comeback in its tracks.

New London was coming off a rare three-set loss on Tuesday night at WACO, but Coach Heath says she knew her squad would bring the energy the next time they stepped on the court.

'I could feel already that they had a different vibe, but we also knew it was going to be a very tough match, and that West Burlington wasn't going to go away.” Heath said. 'We had much better energy and much better motivation, and we knew we had to have that.”

The two seniors combined for 30 of the team's 48 kills. Pry led the way with 19 and Wenger had 11. Williams ended the night with 10.

Aliyah Christenen had 42 assists and 24 digs. Marah Hartrick led the way with 25 digs. Kyra Linkin had 24 digs, and Wenger finished with 23.

It was another good night serving the ball for New London. Hartrick was 22-23 with two aces. Wenger, Christensen and Emma Nye all went 16-16. Christensen, Nye, Pry and Linkin each finished with one ace.

New London is now 20-8 overall and 5-2 in conference play. They'll be at the Davis County tournament on Saturday, Oct. 12.