Warriors battle back to top TC, get to 11-0

The situation was unfamiliar to Mohawk.For the first time this season, the Warriors dropped the opening set of a match when Columbian nipped the Warriors 26-24 Saturday.But the Division IV, eighth-ranked Warriors roared back with a vengeance from there, topping TC 25-17, 25-14, 25-21 in competitive non-league action."You never know how people react mentally," Mohawk coach Eric Hoover said. "But it did seem to wake them up a little bit and dig in a little bit more. We started making plays we weren't making in the first set."The headlining attraction was a battle in the middle between heavy hitting sophomores Biz Klopp from Mohawk and Kaela Jenkins for the Tornadoes."She is really good and very athletic," said Hoover of Jenkins. "Obviously her height is helpful, but she's really athletic. She can go over the block and that makes it pretty darn tough on your defense. She's an outstanding player."Klopp finished with 30 kills and five blocks while Jenkins racked up 18 kills and six blocks."She swings very well to the right side and left side," said TC coach Hope Boes of Klopp. "I thought Kaela did a good job (defending Klopp)."After Mohawk (11-0) blew a set point and fell behind early, it recovered quickly. For the second straight set, the Warriors raced out to a big lead, this time a 7-2 edge in Set 2 after a service ace by Allison Russell.TC fought back and drew within 10-9 on a kill by Jenkins, but Mohawk tallied the next five points - capped on a block and kill by Klopp - to go up 15-9.Kills by Lexi Beaston and Jenkins helped Columbian slice the deficit in half at 17-14, but AJ Chevalier and Faith Miller tallied kills around an ace by Gracie Clouse to push the Mohawk lead up to 22-14. Avery Hoover and Klopp put down kills and a hitting error by TC evened the match at a set apiece."Columbian is a very talented team," Hoover said. "They have a lot of good players. It was one coming in that had me concerned. I'm glad we responded and found a way to come back."The Warriors played even better in Set 3. Once again, Mohawk raced out to a quick start - this time 8-1. The Warriors moved the ball with pace and used their plethora of hitters to attack the Tornadoes.Three kills by Mia Miller and one by Klopp helped Mohawk maintain a 16-9 edge. Hoover served up an ace and Klopp smacked two more kills to put the Warriors up 2-1."You try to get them to work together more as a team and talk more," said Boes of trying to motivate her girls. "Sometimes we're good at it and sometimes we're not."Set 4 was the first in which Columbian got off to a good start. The Tornadoes won five straight points, capped on a block and kill for Ella Kerschner to go up 10-7. Mohawk answered with the next four points and didn't trail the rest of the way.The Warriors weren't able to pull away like they did in Set 3, but they maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way. A kill by Klopp and hitting error by TC made it 18-13. The Tornadoes kept fighting, getting two kills by Kerschner and one by Gabby Shock to keep it close.But in the end, Mohawk was too much. Klopp registered two more big kills to finish the win for the Warriors."I think Biz enjoyed the challenge of having another middle as talented as that on the other side of the net," Hoover said. "She really stepped up and made some adjustments."Mohawk jumped out to a 7-1 lead in Set 1 as Klopp heated up early with five kills in the first eight points. Once Columbian settled in, the Tornadoes were game for the challenge.The Warriors stayed ahead all the way until TC won five straight points to go up 17-15. Mohawk bounced back and seized a 19-18 advantage on a Klopp kill, but the Tornadoes won the next four points.The Warriors came firing back and even had a set point up 24-23 after Miller's kill. The Tornadoes didn't blink as Kerschner smacked back-to-back kills before an error by Mohawk gave Columbian the early lead."It's great to have people where we can keep building leads when Biz is out," Hoover said. "There's going to be certain rotations in a match where you have advantages over others. Some of those work for us having more good hitters than one."Kerschner finished with 15 kills and three blocks while Avary Brown tallied 21 assists for Columbian. Shock added 17 assists while Beaston had four kills."Mohawk is a very good team," Boes said. "They were really good at finding our openings. We kicked ourselves, missing a couple serves at key times. I think the girls fought hard."Miller added 11 kills and five digs while Molly Ward tallied 22 assists and eight digs for Mohawk. Also for the Warriors, Caitlin Ogg registered 21 assists and 15 digs, Chevalier had five kills and six digs, Hoover contributed 16 digs, three kills, and three aces, Miller finished with five digs and four kills, Izzy Meyer contributed five assists and three blocks, and Clouse had five digs and three aces."I was very happy with how we came out and responded," Hoover said. "I thought we had them down in the first set and they just kept coming back and coming back and took the lead at the end. I thought we had a chance to win it, but they made a couple plays."