A goal this year for the Niles volleyball team was to reach 30 wins.

The Vikings accomplished that feat Tuesday in their Class A opening round district match against Portage Northern.

Niles improved its record to 30-15-3 after beating the Huskies, 25-19, 27-25, 20-25, 25-20.

Next up for the Vikings is a district semifinal match Thursday against Mattawan at 7 p.m. at Portage Central High School.

A young Niles squad, which has only two seniors, displayed poise in rallying several times against Portage Northern.

The Vikings overcame a 14-12 deficit in game one, trailed throughout in game two before prevailing, and in game four, the hosts erased a 17-14 Huskies lead.

“They’re ready to move,” said Niles volleyball coach Jenny Nate. “They’ve worked so hard and they knew they wanted this. They didn’t want to lose in their last performance at home.”

After falling behind 13-12 in game one, Nate called a timeout. Her team responded with an 8-1 run to take a 20-14 lead. Courtney Nixon’s kill clinched the game for the Vikings.

“My message to the team was, ‘What do you want? How hard to you want to fight? Who wants this more’?,” Nate said. “And we did.”

Niles scored the final three points in game two with the game-winning point coming on an Alex Smith block.

In game four, a Portage Northern service errors gave Niles the lead for good at 19-18. Smith’s kill ended the game and the match.

“They had to come together and relax,” Nate said about the key to her team rallying in game four. “Both teams were getting really excited. We had to bring it back down and stick out passes and take it one point at a time.”

Bella Rasler had 11 kills, Smith added six and Nixon and Jazmin Brann had five to lead Niles offensively.

“It was a total team effort,” Nate said.

Niles overcame the loss of starting middle hitter Megan Kohler, who was out with a concussion.

“It’s been tough,” Nate said. “I’ve been moving girls all over the place. But I think its only made us only stronger as a team because these girls have had to rally around whoever is playing in Kohler’s position.”

 

Class A District Volleyball

At Niles

Niles d. Portage Northern 3-1

Set scores

25-19, 27-25, 20-25, 25-20

 

Individual statistics

Kills: Bella Rasler (N) 11, Alex Smith (N) 6, Courtney Nixon (N) 5, Jazmin Brann (N) 5, Taylor Fender (P) 7, Courtney Mack (P) 7, Kristin Ingersoll (P) 3

Blocks: Brann (N) 4, Kelsey Barton (N) 4, Smith (N) 3, Ingersoll (P) 2

Assists: Barton (N) 26

Aces: Barton (N) 2, Emily Lewis (P) 5, Carly Dawson (P) 2

Digs: Rasler (N) 7, Barton (N) 5, Holly Walker (N) 3, Breannan Love (N) 3, Smith (N) 3, Alexis Ellis (P) 13, Alex Riesgraf (P) 4, Amanda Croft (P) 3