NTL VOLLEYBALL: NEB SWEEPS WILLIAMSON, CLAIMS SECOND STRAIGHT NTL TITLE (2024-10-17)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
ROME — Northeast Bradford washed that bad taste out of their mouths from their loss at CV on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over Williamson Thursday to clinch their second straight NTL Small School title. 

“It feels amazing,” Kiarra DeLancey said about earning their second straight league title. “This is something we’ve worked so hard for over the last four years, and it’s just such an incredible feeling.”

They hit a couple speed bumps recently, falling to Wellsboro last week, and then their loss at CV on Tuesday.

“We had a pretty rough week,” said Abby O’Connor. “But it feels amazing to sweep Williamson to get the title again.”

They pulled away early in the first two sets for wins of 25-11 and 25-12. Williamson got some offense going in the third sets but the Panthers prevailed 25-21.

“After the past two games I think we’ve found what our problem was, and we fixed it during practice,” Toni Herb remarked.

With the two losses they came in just one game ahead of the Warriors, with a loss here putting NEB behind the eight ball as they still have to go to Troy on Tuesday, who’ll be looking to clinch the Large School title that day.

“It was a bit quiet,” O’Connor said about that bus ride home from CV. “Everyone was just kind of disappointed in themselves, but it definitely gave us the motivation we needed to come here and win.”

This was one of the best hitting games of the season for NEB as they got their offense back on track.

“We are running a 5-1 now with Kelsea (Moore), so it’s a lot better getting used to her sets,” explained Herb. “She’s been setting for a while.”

Toni Herb had a double-double of 13 kills and 16 digs to go with three aces, while Abby O’Connor had 17 kills, one block, two digs, and two aces.

Kelsea Moore finished with 34 assists, seven digs, one kill, and an ace, as Kiarra DeLancey had 19 digs, one assist, and an ace.

Abby Chobot notched nine kills, nine digs, and one assist, as Zaelea Lane had 10 digs, two assists, and an ace. Sayde Heines chipped in with one kill, and one block.

NEB jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the first set, and the closest Williamson got was 14-10.

However, the Panthers scored five straight points - two off kills from Herb and O’Connor, while DeLancey had an ace - to go up 19-10. 

Williamson called a time-out to try and right the ship, but after getting a point NEB scored the final six points to secure the win.

Two early kills gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead in the second seed, with both teams battling back and forth. 

From a 4-4 tie NEB scored five straight points to go up 9-4. They continued to build their lead as the closest the Warriors got was four points the rest of the way to the 25-12 win.

The third set started out more of the same as NEB jumped out to a 6-1 lead, and went up by as much as 11-4. 

After coming out of a timeout Williamson scored five straight points to cut it to 11-9, forcing the Panthers to call their first timeout of the match.

Herb came out of that with a kill to make it 12-9, and the Panthers kept it a 3-point lead until 15-12 when Williamson’s Abby Gehman served up three straight aces to knot the set up at 15-all.

Her fourth serve was just out, putting NEB up 16-15, but a hitting error by the Panthers tied things up again.

The two teams traded points again, then Abby Chobot had a kill, followed by a Williamson hitting error made it 19-17 NEB.

A serve into the net by the Panthers cut it to 19-18, but another Chobot hit, followed by a passing error from Williamson saw the Panthers go up 21-18.

The Warriors called a time-out, and got a kill to cut it to 21-19.

Herb, though, came back with a kill, followed by Zaelea Lane hitting an ace to push NEB’s advantage to four points.

Williamson would cut it to 23-21 with a kill and an NEB attack into the net, but the Panthers finished things off with back to back kills from Herb and O’Connor to get the title.

“This is what we’ve been looking for all season,” DeLancey said. “I fee like we had such good chemistry, everyone really played together as a team. This kind of feels like a repeat of how we played against Troy, so we’re just looking to keep playing like this for the rest of the season.”

They’re excited to face Troy again as they now get ready for the District IV, Class A playoffs, which start at the end of next week.

“I think it’s exciting,” DeLancey said about seeing the Trojans again. “I think it’s really good to play good competition with good hitters, the kind of teams you’re going to see in the playoffs. I’m really excited for that game.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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