Northpoint volleyball returns to Tennessee state tournament
Five-set win sends Lady Trojans back to Murfreesboro
Photo: Three Friendship Christian Commanders throw up a block against the volley of Northpoint Christian’s Val Hurdle during Saturday’s sub-state final at Northpoint. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Oct 19, 2024 – When the Northpoint Christian volleyball team reached the TSSAA Division II-A state tournament last year, the inability to win there might have been due to being a little bit starstruck. After all, the group had not played at this level of volleyball since the 2021 state tournament and the Lady Trojans had not won a match in previous trips to the state tournament.
That may be one of the drivers for this group of Lady Trojans wanting to get back to Murfreesboro and break that 0-6 string in the Tennessee tournament.
They’ll have that opportunity, starting Tuesday, when Northpoint opens the state tournament at Middle Tennessee Christian School after Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Friendship Christian School (Lebanon, Tenn.)
“Our last huddle (in the fifth set), the seniors stepped up and I didn’t say a thing,” coach Kim Robinson said. “They were motivated and it was awesome.”
With Saturday’s victory, Northpoint improved to 33-5. The record includes not losing a set to any DeSoto County school and shutting out two Mississippi state champs from the county in Lake Cormorant (6A) and Lewisburg (7A). The Lady Trojans also beat DeSoto Central 2-0 during a tournament earlier in the year.
Set scores Saturday against the Commanders were 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, 23-25, and 15-11.
After surviving the first set 25-23 with kills from Kylee Reynolds and Quinn Thurman, along with a service ace for the set by Val Hurdle, it appeared that Northpoint had momentum on their side with a 25-19 victory in the second set and a 2-0 lead.
Hurdle served Northpoint to a 4-0 lead in the set but the Commanders recovered to an 11-11 tie. A service ace from Hassie Clare Thurman and a Quinn Thurman kill built the margin back to 18-14 Lady Trojans, followed by an ace from Etta Cottam that forced Friendship to call a timeout trailing 20-15 and hoping to stop the momentum.
It didn’t work, however, as a Quinn Thurman kill and an ace from Hurdle finished the set for Northpoint at 25-19.
Even with the two set lead, Robinson reminded her team that the match was far from over.
“I told the girls, ‘I know you have won two already, but the third set is always the hardest,” Robinson said. “If you don’t come out banging balls, you get complacent. And we came out complacent.”
The third-seeded team from Middle Tennessee took advantage of that, taking sets three and four forcing the deciding fifth set to 15 points and winning by two. The Commanders took the third set 25-15 with a kill from Akira Britton. The fourth set went to Friendship 25-23 as the Commanders took a 10-2 lead early, but Northpoint rallied to tie the set at 22-22 before Friendship was able to put it away.
Northpoint gained control of a closely contested fifth set at 10-8 when a Friendship Christian volley was called wide, a call Commanders coach Jessica Shaffer contested, but to no avail. A Hurdle kill grew the lead to three at 12-9. Friendship recovered to get within two, but Northpoint held on with a kill from Kylee Reynolds being the set, and match point, to send the Lady Trojans on to Murfreesboro.
“So Kylee Reynolds absolutely turned it on today,” Robinson said. “She came up with some key hits that gave us some momentum throughout the fourth set and then this (the match winner).”
In giving up two sets to the Commanders, it marked the first time Northpoint had lost a set in any victory since the season-opening five-set win at Arlington, Tennessee. It was also the first time the Lady Trojans had lost two sets since a 2-0 loss to Nolensville, Tennessee in September.
Robinson said the high competition level brought by the Commanders can only help Northpoint when they start the state tournament.
“That was a great team. They played amazing defense,” Robinson said. “They even flip-flopped their rotation to match up with Quinn (Thurman) and we had it to where Quinn was able to pass with her,” referring to Friendship’s Anna Ofenhueusle, who stands six-foot-three.
For the match, Quinn Thurman finished with 18 kills, 18 digs, two blocks and an ace. Reynolds crushed 13 kills and had five blocks. Sarah Johnson finished with 38 assists, made 18 digs, two blocks and an ace. Hassie Clare Thurman scored 32 digs, four assists and an ace. Val Hurdle made 13 kills, served two aces and had 14 digs, Mackenzie Roach finished with eight kills and two blocks and Chrissy Nolan contributed five kills and made five blocks.
FAMILY FEUD ON THE COURT: Bragging rights were on the line Saturday for the Thurman twins and Friendship’s Anna Ofenhueusle. The trio are cousins by marriage and Robinson said Ofenhueusle pushed her team.
“There’s a bit of a family rivalry there, but she (Ofenhueusle) pushed our limits,” Robinson said.
UPDATE: Saturday evening it was announced that Northpoint would play Battle Ground Academy (Franklin, Tenn.) in the first round of the state tournament.
