Northwood Volleyball Team Jumpstarts Season with a Win.

Northwood High School (1-0) kicked off its girls varsity volleyball season at home Tuesday, winning against Einstein High School (1-1) in all three matches of what could have been a five game set.

The Northwood Gladiator's started strong in the first game, confident in a win according to players Natalie Hessler and Christanne  Taney. After maintaining a steady lead throughout the first game, Hessler scored the game-winning point for Northwood. 

According to Coach Ray Trail, she is one of two players to watch out for this season. The other Gladiator who will be on the rest of the league's radar this year is Abbey Sauber. 

"Both players have been with me a long time. They kind of know what I need to say before I even say it," Trail said after the match.

In the second game, however, the score remained close, power wavering between the two teams. With two timeouts and a tied score on several occasions, the game ended with a score of 25-21 once again in favor of Northwood. 

According to Hessler, Northwood was not expecting Einstein to even compete at the level that they did no Tuesday.

"We thought it would be easy," she said. "We usually get better as our competition gets better."

The third game was the deciding factor. Again, the Gladiators prevailed, maintaining a lead throughout most of the game and using it as an opportunity to sub out players. The match came to a close as the third game ended with the scoreboard reading 25-11, Northwood on top. 

"Our plan was to come in and control the match as best as we could, and we did," Trail said. 

Although the season's first match resulted in victory for Northwood, Trail does see need for improvement in both serving and passing in the upcoming season. He also wants to increase the team's number of total wins.

"In the past we've always been a .500 team. Our goal is to get above that," he said.

Northwood is scheduled to play its next varsity game on Friday at home against Walt Whitman.

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