Northlake Christian downs First Baptist

Northlake Christian School’s Lady Wolverines defeated the First Baptist Christian School Lady Eagles, 25-10, 25-18, 25-18, in a district match Monday at NCS. NCS (13-4), which never trailed, is 6-0 in district, while First Baptist (5-4) is 5-3 in league play.

In the first game, the Lady Wolverines began with a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Angela Barrios capped the run with a kill.

Northlake Christian took a 5-1 advantage, but a kill by First Baptist’s Sara Jones, who had seven, made it 5-2.

After the Lady Wolverines went up 7-2, Barrios had back-to-back aces, giving her a team 9-2 advantage.

After the Lady Eagles tallied, sophomore Meghan Steele, who recorded nine kills and five aces, put down a kill to give NCS a 10-3 lead.

NCS’ big run in the game was 6-0 and began with the Lady Wolverines up 12-4. That gave Northlake Christian a commanding 18-4 lead en-route to a 25-10 win.

In the second game, both teams battled each other. NCS took a 5-1 lead to start, but the Lady Eagles fought back and were able to trim it to 12-10.

The teams played even and the tally was 15-13. First Baptist continued to work hard and got to within a point of NCS three different times, 16-15, 17-16 and 18-17, but never could tie the game or take the lead. The Lady Wolverines finished the game on a 7-1 run to capture the victory, winning 25-18.

In the third game, the teams went toe-to-toe early on. The Lady Wolverines took a 2-1 lead on a kill by freshman Caitlyn Anderson, who posted six. First Baptist tied the score on a Lauren Gaudin kill.

Later in the match, First Baptist was down, 6-3, but a dink shot by Jones cut it to 6-4.

The Lady Eagles got to within 12-11 on a Jones kill, then NCS grabbed a 13-11 lead on a kill by Steele. Another dink by Jones had First Baptist trailing by one, but then the Lady Wolverines went on a 6-0 spurt and led 19-12 before winning the game, 25-18.

Allison McLain had 10 digs for Northlake Christian, and Barrios got six kills.

NCS coach Michelle Anderson said there was a little letdown after the first game.

“We kind of laid back a little bit, started relaxing and let them kind of hang around until they (NCS players) said, ‘OK, we’ve gotta finish it,’” Anderson said.

For First Baptist, Gaudin tallied six digs and two aces, while Hannah Jones had nine assists, four digs, two kills and an ace for the Lady Eagles. Despite the loss, First Baptist coach Theresa Earhart said her team played well against NCS.