Polk County played with a purpose Tuesday night.

It suited the Wolverines well.

East Henderson’s season-opening victory over Polk provided the Wolverines with a mission of redemption in the rematch, with Polk engineering a 25-18, 26-24, 25-21 victory in a nonconference home match.

The Wolverines improved to 3-4 with the sweep, with East Henderson dropping to 4-4.

“This was a big redemption match for me,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill. “We wanted to come out and make a statement.

“The girls were energized and excited. I think the girls wanted this win really badly.”

Focused from the start, Polk County roared to a 10-1 lead in the opening set and never trailed, with Grace Lauer closing the set with a kill.

“I was excited to see the first set,” Hill said. “That’s some of the best volleyball we’ve played this season.”

The second set proved a nailbiter, with Polk inching ahead 20-17, only to see East Henderson score five straight points for a 22-20 advantage.

East still led 23-21 when a violation call at the net went Polk’s way, prompting a long discussion between match officials and Eagle players.

Polk seized upon the opportunity to tie the match at 24-24 on a Marilyn Castillo kill, reached set point as Lauer hammered a cross-court kill and closed out the set on an East error.

With the third set tied at 16, Lauer served three straight points to put Polk up 19-16. The Eagles stayed within two most of the rest of the set, but could not return a Marissa Twitty kill on match point, giving Polk its win.

Mireya Roman finished with 10 kills for Polk, with Kristen Hall adding five kills and 19 digs and Lauer finishing with seven kills.

Sydney Waldman had 25 assists and 11 digs, Ansley Lynch had 24 digs and Landry Edwards had 10 digs for the Wolverines, who traveled Thursday to Enka.

– Submitted by PolkSports.com