Defense, hustle lift Wolverines to win in opener

At times Tuesday, Polk County’s offense looked the part of a team making its season debut.

The Wolverines’ back-row defense and all-around effort, though, showed all the signs of midseason form.

Polk County rebounded from a first-set loss to sweep past East Henderson 19-25, 25-15, 26-24, 25-13 in the Wolverines’ season and home opener.

Kendall Hall had a 37-dig effort to lead a Wolverine defensive effort that constantly kept East Henderson (0-2) in check. Polk players seemed to spend as much time on the floor as at the net, hustle that Polk County head coach Molly Hill said keyed the win.

“I felt like defense won the game for us,” Hill said. “Offensively we had a few girls off their game. It’s been a traumatic week, and that seemed to affect us. But our back row played awesome and we never gave up.”

After splitting the first two games, Polk County took control of the match in the third set, building a 11-5 lead behind the serving of Lauren Ketwitz. The Wolverines pushed the lead to 23-16 on an Ansley Lynch kill, but East Henderson rallied at that point, closing to within 23-21.

A Hall kill from the back row gave Polk game point, but the Eagles scored the next three points, tying the match at 24 on a point that lasted more than 30 seconds, each team making a number of remarkable saves. An East miscue made it 25-24, then Addie Lynch tapped home the winning point to put Polk up two games to one.

The Eagles raced to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set and led 10-5 before the Wolverines scored 14 of the next 15 points, a rally sparked by the serving of Savannah Ross and an offense that began to get its timing in place. Kills by Reagan Waddell and Georgia Garrett capped the run with Polk up 19-11, and the Wolverines closed out the match soon thereafter.

Waddell had 15 kills and 12 digs, Ketwitz had 13 digs, Addie Lynch had 10 kills and Ross had 38 assists for Polk.

“I totally think we were nervous in that first game,” Hill said. “They may say they weren’t, but in that first game, at least, I thought we were extremely nervous.

“At the end of that game I told the girls that we needed to play our game, we had to step up and play like we were capable of.”