West Central Action: BOLD defeats Morris in Five-Set Thriller

The BOLD Warriors traveled to Morris Thursday evening for a showdown between two of the West Central Conference’s premier teams. Undoubtedly there has been great anticipation for this early season match up as Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta is the reigning conference champion while BOLD enters the season experienced and in prime position to dethrone the Tigers. BOLD’s senior heavy team has high expectations for 2018 after a 3-1 postseason record one season ago. Meanwhile, Morris is challenged with replacing two of the conference’s best players from a year ago while looking to sustain the program’s competitive tradition and objective to advance deep into the playoffs. This match simply did not disappoint as BOLD prevailed in a five set thriller that had it all, including epic long points, comebacks, momentum shifts and lead changes, extra points, offensive aggressiveness and finesse as well as skilled and acrobatic defense. BOLD’s victory was earned by set scores of 28-26, 22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9. Tied a 15-15 in set one, Morris went on a four-point surge to force a BOLD timeout at 19-15 in favor of the home team. The teams then traded points and the Tigers maintained the same cushion at 23-19 that pushed BOLD to their second timeout. BOLD responded with back-to-back kills by [player_tooltip player_id="71671" first="Makayla" last="Snow"] (Setter/2020) and Ashley Trongard (MH/2020) for a 23-21 Morris advantage. Following a BOLD error, two more Warrior kills led to a Morris timeout at 24-23. The battle of the middles ensued as Trongard scored to gain the 24-24 tie only to see the Tigers’ Lexi Pew (MH/2020) respond with an off-speed shot that scored to give Morris set point. Another Trongard kill followed by a BOLD error gave Morris a second set point at 26-25 only to see BOLD battle back again with a Snow kill and an ace from Trongard to earn the Warriors their first set point and a second timeout from Morris. [player_tooltip player_id="9933" first="Makenna" last="Steffel"] (OH/2019), BOLD’s offensive leader with 29 kills on the night, closed the door as she forced Morris into a mishandled ball defensively that secured the set one win. Set two saw more of the same early on when a Snow kill gave BOLD a four-point lead of their own that pushed Morris into their first timeout at 13-17. The back-and-forth theme continued as a Pew kill off the block and an ace by Mackenzie Stahman (DS/2019) gave Morris a 21-20 lead late in the set. The two teams traded missed serves before a Trongard kill from the right side tied the set at 22-22. Morris was able to take set two off of a kill from Emma Berlinger (MH/2021) and by forcing BOLD into consecutive errors for the 25-22 win. BOLD raced out to an early lead in set three and sustained a large advantage until late when a valiant Morris comeback attempt came up short. With BOLD up 11-20 after a Steffel kill, Morris managed to cut the deficit and generate some momentum heading into set four. It was another Steffel termination that put BOLD ahead 2-1 and in command following the 20-25 set three win. Although coming up short in set three, the momentum shift served the Tigers well as they were able to stay close to BOLD through the first half of set four. At 13-15 in favor of the Warriors, that is when the Tigers’ [player_tooltip player_id="9947" first="Riley" last="Decker"] (Libero/2019) stepped to the service line that led to a 6-0 run as a result of great service pressure, including two service aces in that stretch for a 19-15 lead. Two Sophia Carlsen (MH/2021) kills helped Morris maintain their edge at 20-16 and 21-17 only to see BOLD’s Morgan Schmitz (OH/2019) earn two kills of her own to close the gap to 21-19. Morris stretched their lead again with a [player_tooltip player_id="72092" first="LaRae" last="Kram"] (S/OH/2021) kill and a big block by Pew and Jen Solvie (MH/2019) that forced a BOLD timeout at 23-19. BOLD would respond with kills by Schmitz and Snow that led to a Morris timeout at 23-21. The Tigers’ Pew followed the timeout with an attack error but quickly recovered on her next opportunity with a kill to give Morris set point at 24-22. Trongard hammered a ball that forced the Morris dig attempt into the rafters however Pew would catch BOLD off balance as her tip attempt would score the final point for the 25-23 set four win for Morris and set up the winner-take-all fifth set. Down 0-2 to begin set five, Morris went on a 5-0 run off the serve of Solvie, a kill by Marty and a couple of BOLD attack errors. A BOLD block and consecutive Morris attack errors then quickly tied the set at 5-5. Pew notched back-to-back kills to push Morris ahead at 7-5 and send the local fans into a roar only to see a BOLD kill by Devyn O’Halloran (RH/2019) and a block by O’Halloran and Alex Revier (MH/2019) tie it up midway through the final set. Morris would reclaim the lead at 8-7 following a BOLD error. The final points were a highlight reel for BOLD’s Steffel as the offense went through their high-flying leader to close out the win. With set five tied at 8-8, four consecutive kills by Steffel vaulted BOLD to an 8-12 lead. Following two Morris errors and a kill that gave BOLD match point it was Steffel that ended the final rally with another impressive kill to seal the win on their opponent’s home floor. In addition to Steffel’s kill production, BOLD received great contributions offensively from both Trongard and Snow, each finishing with 12 and 11 kills respectively. Snow also handled the setting duties and racked up 50 assists on the night with an impressive arsenal of distribution in getting a lot of hitters involved while managing to earn points off of her own arm at times as well. Defensively, Brenna Weiss (Libero/2020) showed why she is one of the best in the area at her position as she notched 37 digs for the match often putting the BOLD offense in great situations. Not only highly regarded for her impressive offense, Steffel displayed great defensive prowess as well in posting 24 digs while O’Halloran contributed 14 in the winning effort. For Morris, Pew led the offense with 13 kills on the match with impressive athleticism and from various locations across the net. Marty delivered a great all-around effort as well with 8 kills and a team-leading 32 digs. Decker, the reigning conference defensive MVP did her part in adding 22 digs to go along with her steady veteran leadership and consistent service pressure to help keep Morris in the match. Kram and Liz Dietz (S/2019) shared the setting duties, finishing with 22 and 20 assists respectively. Both teams battled from start to finish and the conclusion of this one has already generated great anticipation for the rematch set to take place at BOLD on October 6.