VOLLEYBALL: Polk sweeps East Rutherford, earns third shot at Brevard in MF7 final

Published 10:29 am Wednesday, October 18, 2023

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The third act in the trilogy is now officially set.

Polk County earned a third crack at Brevard, downing East Rutherford 3-0 Tuesday in the semifinals of the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Volleyball Tournament at Polk.

That moves the second-seeded Wolverines (22-2) into Wednesday’s championship match at Brevard, set for 5 p.m. The Blue Devils (25-2) swept the Wolverines in their two regular-season meetings.

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Polk took a 25-14, 25-16, 25-8 win over third-seeded East Rutherford (16-8), completing the sweep in just over an hour. The teams swapped points early in the first set before three Morgan Yoder aces helped push the Wolverines to a 9-4 lead.

At 9-6, a Sophia Overholt kill and Zaelea Eller ace helped spark an 11-0 Polk run and helped the Wolverines easily take the first set.

The Cavaliers opened the second set with seven straight points, taking advantage of several Polk errors. But the Wolverines began to steadily chip away at the lead, finally evening the set at 13-13 on an Elena Carroll ace. Another Carroll ace made it 14-13 and Polk never trailed again in the set, closing it on a Yoder kill.

The Wolverines grabbed an early 6-3 lead in the third set and steadily pulled away. Polk closed the match with Junie Mitchell, elevated from the junior varsity squad, serving and Lexi Beiler putting away a tip for match point.

Overholt had nine kills and 14 digs, with Yoder adding eight kills and five aces. Ada Kelley had five kills and eight digs and Mia Bradley and Kylie Lewis each had four kills, with Bradley posting four blocks and Lewis recording eight digs.

Eller had 21 assists, with Charley Dusenbury finishing with 11. Carroll had nine digs and six aces.