NORTHSIDE GETS HOME SWEEP

Northside 3, Springdale 0

A day after getting a road sweep, the Lady Bears returned to Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse and did the same, sweeping former 7A-West foe Springdale (25-19, 25-18, 25-17).

"I really challenged the girls to come out and compete (Tuesday) after (Monday's) win; I didn't want them to come in lightly because Springdale's a good team and I wanted to come out and play them tough," Northside coach Matt Waack said. "I was really proud of my girls, especially that third game, I felt like we came out and controlled the whole set and we never even let them try to rally and come back on us."

Sophomore Nakia Willis had two kills as part of a 3-0 Northside run to begin the third set, and the Lady Bears (3-1) never trailed, playing with boundless energy and enthusiasm. They extended the lead to 6-2; then 15-8 after a block from Emma Kate Fitzgerald followed by a kill from Chloe Fitzgerald, who had a big kill later which gave Northside a 24-14 advantage.

In the opening set, Northside broke a 17-all score with an 8-2 run ignited by consecutive kills from Alexis Evans and Alexa Scott. The Lady Bears then broke a 12-all score in the second set with an 11-5 run to eventually take a two-set lead.

Waack also liked the fact that the team's stats were balanced.

Evans recorded nine kills to go with three blocks. Scott and Chloe Fitzgerald each had seven kills, with Emma Kate Fitzgerald having six and Willis with five.

The Lady Bears also had 74 service attempts with only six errors. They also had 10 team aces, led by Aliyah Hall's three. In addition, Northside committed just one serve-receive error. Sydney Green had 16 digs and Hall had eight as well.

Northside now opens 7A-Central play Thursday with a road match at Bryant.