AKRON — NorthWood backed up a regular season win over Fairfield in three sets, while Lakeland avenged an earlier five-setter over Wawasee in the opening round at the Tippecanoe Valley Sectional Thursday night.

The Lady Panthers advance to play West Noble in the early semifinal Saturday at 11 a.m., while Lakeland plays host Valley at 1:30 p.m., with the championship scheduled for 6 p.m. in Akron.

NORTHWOOD 3, FAIRFIELD 0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-15)
After her team beat Fairfield in three sets earlier this year, NorthWood coach Hillary Laidig was a little concerned about facing Fairfield a second time in Thursday’s sectional-opener. She didn’t need to be concerned.

Her Panthers were dialed in from the outset, and they got stronger as the match went on en route to the win.

“Beating them early in the season sometimes you get a little bit in your head ‘What’s going to happen?’,” said Laidig. “To come out tonight and still stay with three was really, really big for us, I think.”

The first game featured seven ties and four lead changes, but a quick 3-0 spurt that included an ace from defensive specialist Grace Clark put NorthWood in the driver’s seat at 20-17, and the Panthers held on for the 25-22 win.

Like the first set, the second game was nip-tuck, with the two teams locked in ties six different times, but the lead changed hands just once — when NorhtWood used a 6-1 run to get out front, 7-6, and never relinquished the lead on the way to a 25-23 win and a two-set lead.

The Panthers opened the third game 6-1, and Fairfield was never really in the final set, which NorthWood closed out by a lopsided 25-15 margin.

“I think the girls did a nice job of building,” Laidig said. “That first set in any sectional game both teams are really excited, there’s a lot of energy. After that first one, I thought we held together, and then the third set I thought we played really, really clean.”

Maddy Payne led the Panthers’ attack with 11 kills followed by Kate Rullie’s eight. Rulli also finished with three blocks followed by two apiece from Maddy Payne and Alea Minnich. Libero Whitney Gessinger dug up 19 balls, and she and Clark each finished with three aces, while Caroline Mullet set 32 assists as NorthWood moved to 25-8.

“Maddy Payne is definitely our kill leader on the year. Kate Rulli is right behind her there. Whitney in the back row digs a lot of balls. Caroline has to set it, does a great job of putting it in Rulli’s and Payne’s hands a lot,” said Laidig.

The Panthers advance to face West Noble in Saturday’s early match. They’ll look to reverse an earlier, two-set tournament loss to the Chargers and DI prospect Madison Schermerhorn.

“They’re solid. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. I think it’ll be a really good match,” said Laidig.

LAKELAND 3, WAWASEE 2 (21-25, 30-28, 17-25, 26-24, 16-14)

Like Fairfield, the Lakers were looking to avenge a regular-season loss to Wawasee in Akron Thursday, and that’s just what they did, flipping the script on an earlier five-setter with the Warriors.

Up two games to one, Wawasee had a chance to close it out in four, but a pair of errors late in the fourth set snapped a 24-24 tie and gave Lakeland the win in the extended game, 26-24, and a 4-1 run midway through the deciding fifth set gave the Lakers a 12-9 advantage. Wawasee battled to knot it back up at 14-all but was never able to get back out front. Sophomore hitter Bailey Hartsough put the exclamation point on the win with a hard kill to close out a 31-kill night, and the Warriors closed the year.

“It was a really, really tight match. Overall a tremendous fight on both ends of the spectrum,” said Wawasee coach Kayla Riportella. “And I know that it was a very intense match; over the course of things kind of looking and leaning on calls to see which way things played out. Lakeland was relentless. They kept answering back and firing back, and they refused to give up and my team did the same thing.”

Madison Simmons led Wawasee’s attack with 19 kills and five aces, while Brooke Heche paced the defense with 18 digs, but it was junior setter Liz Kleopfer who made possibly the biggest all-around contributions to Wawasee’s game with eight kills, 11 digs and 33 assists as the Warriors alternated between a five-one and a six-two offensive scheme.

“Liz is someone who gravitates toward that ball, and she runs not only our offense, but she runs our team,” said Riportella. “We’ve kind of played around with two different offenses with her. We’ve run a six-two so she gets a chance to swing because she’s such an asset in the front court, but we’ve been struggling with consistency in that other offensive piece, that other setter, so we kind of relied upon that five-one, which took her swing out of the piece. But she is a playmaker, she is a game changer, and she is essential to the success of this team.”

Also for Wawasee Thursday, Janae Hapner notched eight kills, while Molly Jones put away seven, and Hanna Gaerte served up a pair of aces. The Warriors close a strong campaign at 14-19, more than double their win total from last season, but must say goodbye to a core of five seniors, including Hapner, Gaerte, Heche, Peyton Rookstool and Bethany Flannery.

“I had half of them when I was the freshman coach, and then I got to see more of them when I took over as head coach so they’ve been with me through it all. I have a very emotional connection with this group, and I’m really sad to see them go. But as a seniors leadership body, they have taken this team and this program and done things that we haven’t,” said Riportella of her seniors.

“This year was a historic year for this program. It’s on the rebound. We’re sad to see the seniors go, but they’ve left behind a legacy that’s going to bring only good things from here on out.”