BREVARD – Finally.
Polk County landed its white whale, slayed its challenging beast, exorcised its on-court demon. Choose your favorite metaphor for a win that the Wolverines desperately wanted.
Polk snapped a run of six straight losses against Brevard, earned a share of the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference title and served notice that it’s ready to begin defense of its state 1A championship with a dramatic 3-2 victory Thursday evening in Brevard.
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The final point of Polk’s 25-12, 16-25, 29-27, 22-25, 16-14 win fell to the floor and the Wolverines rushed to celebrate, tears and cheers flowing almost as much as they did at the end of last year’s state final.
This one felt almost as special.
“Oh, it means a whole lot,” said Polk County’s Morgan Yoder, one of six seniors that have for years battled Brevard’s seven seniors in middle school, high school and on the travel team circuit. “We knew this was going to be a huge game for us, and we handled the pressure very well, I think.
“This is the last one. This is the second time beating them in my four years here, and the fact that I was finally able to do it again one last time means so much to me. I’m always going to remember this.”
There was certainly much memorable about the evening, including the deciding fifth set.
The teams traded points to start the set, neither able to lead more than a point until Polk (16-3, 11-1) inched ahead 9-7 on a Kylie Lewis kill. Brevard (16-4, 11-1) quickly evened the score at 10, and the Blue Devils pulled in front and had match point at 14-13 thanks to a Claire Wilson ace.
But Yoder put down a kill, then served an ace to give the Wolverines their own match point. Polk didn’t waste it, with the Blue Devils unable to return Mia Bradley’s touch on the left side.
“This is what we came here to do, we had that goal in mind and we’ve accomplished it,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill.
“Before the (fifth) game started, Kylie Lewis was in the huddle and just telling our team, make it mini games, every point’s a game, that’s our mindset, dig or die. And she’s saying all the right things and as the coach, I just reiterated and went off of her. I’m like, it is dig or die, and this is the drill that you guys love and that we train so much on and now it’s your real-life moment to go put it into use here.
“And they did that.”
The evening could have begun no better for Polk County. Barely had Brevard’s Senior Night festivities ended before the Wolverines scored six of the first seven points and kept scoring, at one time leading 16-4. Polk was serving and setting well and Brevard was not, and that pattern largely lasted throughout the set until its end.
But the Blue Devils quickly regathered. Emma Powell began causing problems for Polk at the net with her blocking, Wilson began to find her footing offensively and, perhaps most importantly, the Wolverines began to have issues receiving serve. Those factors helped Brevard pull away in the second set to even the match.
“At one point we had total control of the game,” Hill said. “We came out hot, came out swinging with confidence. That set a standard, and that was awesome. We really passed well and we sided out on serve receive.
“The other sets, especially the two that we lost, we were getting stuck in serve receive, and that makes it hard. When our passes are off, Charley (Dusenbury) is having to run all over the place, or it’s really super tight to the net, and that makes it hard for our hitters to do something with the set.
“We had control of the net, we were swinging. But I told them before the second set, they’re going to adjust. (Head coach Caleb Hill) is smart, they’re smart, they’re good, they’re going to adjust, they’re going to fix things and they did that.”
The third set proved its own epic-within-an-epic. Close throughout, Brevard pushed ahead 20-17 on kills by Adeline Shultz and Gracie Hogsed. Polk fought back to even the match at 21-21, only to see the Blue Devils score the next three points to make it 24-21.
But staring at three set points, Polk didn’t blink. The Wolverines fought back and tied the match at 24 on a Yoder kill, then held off another set point at 25-24. Polk had its first set point at 26-25, Brevard had another at 27-26 and then a Yoder kill gave the Wolverines another set point at 28-27.
This one, Polk didn’t lose, with a Bradley kill not returned to give the Wolverines the set and a 2-1 lead
Brevard took charge in the fourth set with a late 6-3 run, building a 21-17 edge. At 24-20, Polk fought off two set points on a Yoder kill and ace, but the Blue Devils followed a timeout with a point to even the match and set up the deciding fifth set.
Nerves? Everyone had them, players and fans alike. Polk County perserved.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m still shaking,” Yoder said. “Everyone was really nervous. Everyone could feel it. You could feel it.
“I think it’s really cool how we’re in the same conference and also both state champions. So the fact that there was so much pressure, and that they’re state champions and we’re state champions as well, winning makes that so much more special.”
Polk’s Sophia Overholt finished with 14 kills, 25 digs and an injury scare, at one point crumpling to the court and holding the brace surrounding the knee she injured earlier this season. She gingerly rose to her feet and eventually nodded her head that she would continue. As her father, Pat, said after the match, “She wasn’t coming off the floor.”
Yoder had 13 kills, 13 digs and eight total blocks. Bradley had 11 kills and 25 digs. Dusenbury had 37 assists and 13 digs. Hayden Blackwell had 20 digs.
Polk County didn’t play a perfect game. There are things the Wolverines will no doubt want to work on before Tuesday’s 1A state playoff opener.
But it will be much nicer tackling those issues coming off a victory and holding a share of the MF7 conference crown.
“It’s a huge win and it’s a huge confidence boost,” Hill said. “We were talking on the bus on the way over here about how this is going to help us with rankings and what happens if we do this and this happens and all these scenarios.
“I think it was just anticipating and waiting to see what happens next and what’s to come.”
Pairings for the state 1A playoffs will be announced Sunday.
Let the title defense begin.
