SOMONAUK -- Newark coach Tonya Nagel knows her team is on a run. She just can't quite remember how many games in a row the Norsemen have won.
"That's one I'd have to sit down and figure out on paper. That's why I don't teach math," said a jovial Nagel after the match.
Consider it a nice problem to have, keeping track of a long winning streak. One thing is for sure: Newark continued its superb season with a 25-18, 25-17 defeat of Little Ten Conference foe Somonauk.
The Norsemen improved to 23-2 overall and 6-0 in the conference by exploding for a big run in each game and then holding off the Bobcats.
Newark has received big contributions from a pair of key players from last year's Class 1A state semifinal basketball squad, Sam Akre and setter Laura Johnson, who had 17 assists and six digs. Akre, a powerful 6-foot middle hitter, put the exclamation point on the match with kills on the final two points of the match. She led the Norsemen offensive attack with eight kills and added five digs.
The Bobcats were hanging around in the first game, tied 7-7 after Lauren Gifford (five kills) found an opening in the Newark back line. But the Norsemen went on a 12-1 run to seize control. Miranda Schmidt had a pair of kills during the run, while Andrea Peterson contributed a kill and a dink.
Somonauk (15-9 overall, 4-2 LTC) wouldn't cave in though. Kate Haddock (three kills, five digs) and Karrah Kuykendall each had kills, Kuykendall's coming after a great dig by libero Kelsey Castleman. That brought the Bobcats within 19-12, and they may have closed the gap further without three service errors down the stretch.
"That's the soul of our team, to not give up no matter how much we're down," Somonauk coach Angie Koontz said. "Newark has a great program, so we knew it would be a tough match. We had a hard time on offense, struggled here and there on passing. We just couldn't get it done."
"When we played (Somonauk) last Friday night, we let them make little runs at us," Nagel said. "We talked about not allowing that to happen and practiced against it. We stressed the need to get two blockers on (Bobcat outside hitter Braunwyn) Feil, who had eight kills against us. She wasn't as effective tonight."
Newark put together the decisive surge later in the second game. Up 14-13, Johnson registered a pair of points as part of a 9-0 run that settled the match's outcome.
"Angie's done a nice job -- they (the Bobcats) are a lot better than they were last year," said Nagel. "But we did what we needed to do."
Volleyball: Newark Def. Somonauk 25-18, 25-17
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