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In a District 14C showdown that lived up to every ounce of the hype, the Noxon Red Devils defeated the St. Regis Tigers in four sets (25-18, 17-25, 25-15, 25-23) Saturday in St. Regis. The story of the game was overcoming adversity as Noxon fought off a gritty St. Regis team that held leads in three out of four sets. Head coach Dana Grupenhoff's Red Devils improved to 3-2 on the season in which they've had to reschedule six matches due to COVID.

The first set saw St. Regis up 3-1 until Noxon junior Aubrey Erwin served up one of her two aces on the night and senior Riley Richter connected on two of her team-high 13 kills. The momentum and the lead had swung to Noxon as St. Regis called for a timeout trailing 10-7. After the timeout, Noxon continued to build their lead with two highlight kills from their lethal duo of wing spikers Richter and junior Emily Brown. Richter followed Brown's big kill with an ace and sophomore middle hitter Maygan Swanson pounded home the last point to take the set 25-18.

The second set began in sloppy fashion for Noxon as St. Regis grabbed a 10-4 lead off some unforced errors from the Red Devils. Noxon recovered to score three straight points before St. Regis senior Rylie Burnham got her chance to serve and led the Tigers on a 7-0 run to bring the score to 16-7. Noxon chased down the Tigers via two more highlight worthy kills from Richter and Brown, but weren't able to overtake St. Regis and eventually lost the set 17-25.

Noxon seemed to awaken after a rough second set by jumping out to a dominating 9-1 lead in the third. The Red Devil run was powered by a diving save from Mia Vogel (who led the team with six digs) and three kills from Richter. St. Regis battled back but Richter slammed the door shut with another big kill and Noxon took the third set.

Hilary VanVleet

SETTING IT UP Red Devil Riley Richter sets to teammate Vanessa Horner during Noxon's match against Superior last Thursday.

St. Regis wasn't going down without a fight as they dominated the early stages of the fourth set courtesy of multiple aces from senior libero Taylor Hurd. Trailing 17-10, Noxon emerged from a timeout a seemingly different team and in what would end up being a major turning point, senior middle hitter Vanessa Horner stepped up to serve. Horner, who filled up the stat sheet with two aces, eight kills, two assists, three blocks, and three digs, single-handedly shifted momentum with five booming serves that were too much for St. Regis to effectively handle. St. Regis was able to rebound and pushed the score to 21-17 in favor of the Tigers. Noxon was able to respond once again though as libero Callie Cano delivered some well-placed serves to propel the Red Devils back into the lead. With Noxon in the lead 24-23, Emily Brown delivered one last highlight kill to close the door on St. Regis and seal the victory for the Red Devils.

Last Tuesday, the Red Devils hosted Alberton-Superior in a rematch from earlier in the season which Alberton-Superior won in four sets. The script was flipped this time around as Noxon got the win in four sets (14-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-6). The Red Devils were led by performances from Vogel (seven aces), Horner (six aces and six kills), Brown (five aces, five kills, 15 assists) and Richter (six kills and 15 assists).

Noxon will look to continue their winning ways, heading to Clark Fork Thursday and Valley Christian on Friday.