Tigers topple Wolves in four

NEW LONDON - Winfield-Mt. Union didn't make it easy on No. 10 New London on Thursday night, but the Tigers were still able to pull out a four-set win to advance to another regional final.

The Tigers took the first two sets on the night, and then rebounded from a W-MU win in the third set to take the fourth, winning the match 27-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-9.

W-MU was red hot at the start. The Wolves jumped out to an 8-1 lead on serving streaks by Jami Wilkerson and Kyndal Townsley. Jenna Buffington had a couple of kills early, and New London was in an early rut.

The Tigers buckled down and started a comeback. Sofie Reighard and Paris Wilka combined for three-straight points to cut the lead to 8-4, and New London didn't let the Wolves get another big run all set. The Tigers came all the way back to tie the game at 13-13 on a Peyton Jackson kill, and eventually took a 15-14 lead.

Madie Anderson tied the game back up for W-MU with a kill, and Townsley put the Wolves back up with an ace, but New London scored the next four points, including kills from Kaylor Schulte and Addie Pry.

W-MU came back again to tie the game at 21-21 on a kill by Anna Hudson. Buffington scored on an ace to give the Wolves a 22-21 lead, but Schulte tied the game up and Jackson put the Tigers up 23-22 with a kill of her own.

W-MU tied the game at 23-23, and the two teams split the next four points to make it tied 24-24 and 25-25. The Wolves made a couple of mistakes at the end of the set and New London went up 1-0 with a 27-25 win.

'That game one was huge,” said New London head coach Maureen Heath. 'We dug ourselves a hole and we knew it, and we had to get to work. I'm proud of them for staying tight at the end of that game. I told them game one is just a huge momentum builder.”

W-MU had another early lead in the second set. Townsley continued to give New London problems on the serve, scoring on three straight aces to give the Wolves a 4-2 lead. W-MU scored the next five points, however, and back-to-back aces from Chloe Coleman gave the Tigers an 8-4 lead.

New London held the lead throughout the second set. The Tigers spread the ball around nicely to build a steady lead. Pry finished the set with five kills, and Coleman had another ace as New London ran away 25-16 to take a 2-0 lead.

With their backs squarely against the wall, W-MU didn't give up. New London got out to a 7-4 lead to start things off but the Wolves clawed back to take a 10-9 lead. Reighard tied the game back at 10-10, and the game was tied again at 11-11 on a Buffington kill and then again at 14-14.

W-MU scored the first two points, the first of which on another kill by Hudson, to take a 16-14 advantage, but the Tigers came back again, tying the game at 16-16 and 17-17. The Wolves scored the next three kills on back-to-back-to-back kills by Kayla Edwards, Wilkerson and Buffington.

Trailing 20-17, New London came back yet again. The Tigers scored the next three points to tie the game at 20-20. W-MU scored three of the next four points, two of which came on Buffington kills, to go up 23-21, but Paris Wilka cut the lead to 23-22 with a kill, and Schulte tied the game up at 23-23.

Liana Sweezer had a big kill to give the Wolves the lead back at 24-23, and Buffington ended the game on an ace to take it 25-23 and get the Wolves back within one in sets.

'It was nice to see a relatively young team to come back and never give up,” W-MU head coach David Pieart said after the game. 'I give all the credit to our senior leaders out there that were constantly encouraging. Three of those others were in a regional semi last year when we couldn't pull off a comeback, so I'm really proud of the way they did.”

When the fourth set came around, it was time for New London to flex its muscle. A couple of early kills by Buffington helped the Wolves take an early 4-3 lead, but New London scored the next four points, took a 7-4 lead on a Schulte kill, and never looked back.

The Tigers tallied three aces in the set, two by Alexa Wenger and one by Sophie Lounsbury, and capitalized on few W-MU mistakes to run away with a 25-9 win in the final set and move on to the regional final.

New London was led offensively by Pry, who finished the night with 15 kills. Schulte had 14 kills and Jackson finished with 10. Coleman had 30 digs on the night. Kristen Rohdy finished with 43 assists and 20 digs.

The Tigers went 95-99 on the serve with eight aces. Coleman's three aces led the way. Wenger finished with two, and Lounsbury, Pry and Rohdy had one each.

W-MU was led by Buffington who finished the game with 15 kills and 29 digs, both of which led the team. After the victory, Coach Heath talked about how difficult it was to plan around the W-MU sophomore.

'She can do it all,” Heath said. 'She plays great defense too, and she serves very well. We knew we had to key in on her, and we weren't doing such a great job there in the beginning. But we were determined that we were going to try to dig her as much as we could.”

Madie Anderson, Sweezer and Wilkerson all had four kills apiece for second best in the W-MU stat book. Edwards finished the night with 28 assists to lead the way.

W-MU went 66-76 with 10 aces serving the ball. Townsley ended the night with five aces. Buffington had two aces, and Edwards, Moody and Wilkerson had one each.

New London will take on No. 7 Montezuma in the regional final on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. That game will be in Ottumwa at Evans Middle School. There will be another regional final leading up to that. No. 3 Holy Trinity and East Union will play their regional final at 6 p.m.