Sports
Eagles continue positive play, including another five-set win
Tyler Ohmann
10/15/2013
After starting the season 3-8 the Newburg-Westhope (NW) Eagles season looked a bit murky.
However, the Eagles won their first district match against Dunseith, and since that win they have gone on to win three more district wins in five tries, including two this past week.
The Eagles first toppled Drake-Anamoose in Drake on Tuesday by a score of 3-1. Then NW hosted Velva and pulled off an exciting five-set victory over the Aggies for their third straight match win.
In the contest, which felt strangely like a five-set win the Eagles earned a week prior, all three sets won by the Eagles came on the south side of the court.
It was the second time in as many games on the Newburg court that the Eagles were able to pull out a victory thanks to a coin toss that put them on that south side. However, they aren’t sure why that side has been their lucky charm.
“I really have no idea,” said junior Maddy Lodoen with a chuckle. “We think maybe there is a different light bulb or something.”
The Eagles took home a close first set on that south side 25-22.
Velva roared back with a 25-10 win in set two. NW again dug up their courage on the south side to win 25-21 in the third set.
Velva jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set, but the Eagles nearly clawed back, but still fell 25-20 to force a fifth set.
In that set, the Eagles narrowly escaped with a 15-13 win to improve to 4-2 in District 11 play.
Lodoen points at hard work in practice and a strong push from coach Katie Fluhrer as the reason for the spirited Eagles play.
“We worked hard in practice (this week),” Maddy Lodoen said. “When we weren’t working hard, our coach pushed us more and more.”
Lodoen had a team-best 25 digs in the win, and also added eight kills. Fellow juniors Lauren Mach (nine kills, five blocks) and Paige Stratton (five aces) also played key roles in victory.
Molly Lodoen, the Eagles junior setter, had 20 assists, 13 digs and five blocks.
The win over the Aggies was the the third straight for the Eagles.
That’s because the Eagles traveled to Drake to take on the Lady Raiders last Tuesday, and came home with a 3-1 win.
NW took home set victories 25-18 and 25-20 to start of the match. It looked as though the Eagles would cruise to a sweep, but the Raiders came back in the third set and won 27-25.
Both teams traded blows in the final set, but the Eagles finished and closed out the match with a 25-23 win in the fourth.
Again Mach, Stratton and the Lodoens were big contributors in the victory. Mach had team-bests in blocks (eight) and kills (seven), while Stratton had seven kills and two aces. As for Maddy and Molly Lodoen, Maddy finished with 22 digs and Molly had 19 assists.
The wins leave the Eagles with just one district contest left on Oct. 22 at home against Sawyer.
The District 11 tournament will begin on Oct. 31 in Towner, and Maddy Lodoen feels like the Eagles will be ready for it.
“I think we’re going to go into districts just fine,” Maddy Lodoen said. “We’ve really come together as a team, and this is what we’ve been working for these past years.”
However, they’d like to be the No. 2 seed, which they have a good chance of getting if they can defeat Sawyer.
“It would be nice to go into districts as the second seed,” Maddy Lodoen said. “We lost to Bottineau, but I think anybody has a chance.”
The pair of district contests weren’t all that was on the docket for the Eagles on the week though. They participated in a tournament hosted by Rolla last Saturday as well.
In the tournament NW went 1-2 in pool play.
They lost 25-17, 25-14 to Bottineau in their first match, but bounced back with a split victory over St. John. The Eagles lost the first set 25-23, but a 25-17 win in the second set gave them the victory.
NW then fell peril to that same fate in their third pool play match as they lost one set 25-15, but took another 25-22.
The accumulated points were not enough to put them in the top four and into the tournament round, which ended their day early.
Overall now the Eagles sit at 8-13, and an even 5-5 in their last 10 matches.
The Eagles also played last night in Bowbells against Burke County, but scores and stats were unavailable by press time. It was their only match this week. The final district tilt against Sawyer on Oct. 22 will be their next match.