Huskies defeat Postville, 3-0; to face S. Winneshiek in Class 2A VB quarterfinals

By Bob Fenske editor@nhtrib.com

NASHUA — It wasn’t always pretty Tuesday night, but in the end, the Nashua-Plainfield volleyball team gave its coach a pretty nice 22nd birthday present — her first-ever postseason win.

The Huskies had to overcome slow starts in two sets on their way to a 25-10, 25-17, 25-15 win over Postville in the first round of the Class 2A regional tournament.

“I saw a lot of good things and I saw some things we obviously have to work on,” coach Amber Carter said after her team improved to 12-16.

“We didn’t let them turn runs into long ones, and when we really needed a point, we got one.”

The Huskies advanced to next Monday’s quarterfinal round when they will take on a 21-14 South Winneshiek team in Calmar.

Nashua-Plainfield came out of the gate fast Tuesday, and Meghan Wright served nine straight points, including two aces, in a first-set win.

But the momentum quickly dissipated as the Pirates, who came into the match 0-25 without winning a single set, jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and Carter quickly called a timeout.

“Yeah, I wasn’t happy,” she said. “I told them to get their energy level back up and play the way they’re capable of and they really did respond.”

A Britney Holthaus back row kill gave the Huskies a 6-5 lead during a 15-3 run, and after Postville closed the gap to 16-13, Nashua-Plainfield finished the set with a 9-4 run that was highlighted by a Sydney Hansen kill and a set-ending block.

Still, Postville would not go quietly and took a 13-8 lead in the third set.

But senior Rylee Bonzer righted the ship — serving eight straight points to give the Huskies the lead they would never relinquish.

Morgan Kapping led the hitting attack for the Huskies with eight kills while Hansen had 17 assists. Britney Holthaus had 10 digs while Wright led a strong serving attack, going 21-for-22 with two aces while Libby Fisher was 18-for-21 with three aces.

“We had a bunch of people step up tonight,” Carter said, “and I keep telling these girls we can make a run here in the postseason.

“Do we have to play better than we did tonight? Yes, but it’s incredible to me to see how much more confident we are  than we were at the beginning of the season. Even when things aren’t going right, they believe in themselves. That’s huge.”