TULARE — In one of the most impressive displays of high school volleyball you could ever ask to see, the Hitchcock-Tulare Lady Patriots and Northwestern Wildcats squared off in Region 1B play Thursday in Tulare for an opportunity to advance to the SoDak 16, to be played on Tuesday. The Lady Patriots survived a night long volleys to win in four sets.

The Lady Patriots move to 30-2 with set scores of 15-25, 25-19, 25-23, and 25-18.

Northwestern got the first point of the opening set from a impressive kill from Ashley Haven. The two teams played back and forth until Northwestern setter Ella Boekelheide, who won a state title in cross country on Oct. 26, began to masterfully distribute the ball among multiple hitters, putting the Lady Pats defense out of system and allowing the Wildcats to go on a long run that was stopped at 18-9 by a timeout from H-T coach Jordan Opp.

The two teams played even from that point, but the difference had been created, allowing Northwestern to close out on the serving of Haven for a 25-15 first-set victory.

Ella Johnson opened the second set with an ace for Hitchcock-Tulare. The two teams went back and forth until a short run made it 13-9 Lady Patriots, drawing a timeout from Northwestern coach Nora Groft. The streak got to 15-9 before Northwestern broke it, but then behind the serving of Mikaela Schmitt, the Wildcats climbed back to actually take the lead at 16-15.

That’s when H-T senior Isabel Gilbert stepped back to serve, and while she didn’t dominate with aces, her serves put the Wildcats consistently in rough defensive position, and the Lady Patriots streaked to a 25-19 second-set victory to even the match at one set apiece.

The Wildcats stormed out of the gate with a 5-0 run to open the third set. The Lady Patriots stormed back to knot the score at 9-9, drawing a Groft timeout. Hitchcock-Tulare took its first lead of the set at 10-9, but Northwestern responded with a run to take a 16-12 lead.

That’s when the Lady Patriots leaned on their double-setter offence, with Gracyn Bixler and Lila Johnson both setting up when they were on the floor together, leaving Northwestern’s defense frequently ill-prepared for an incoming hit. A block by Northwestern out of bounds finalized the set for the Lady Patriots, 25-23, giving the home team a 2-1 set lead.

Again, Ella Johnson opened the set with a service ace to kick off the fourth set. After the teams exchanged points early, senior Katelyn Schroeder stepped back to serve and went on a long run, sprinkling in a pair of aces and putting the Wildcat defense out of position, extending a run to a 10-4 Hitchcock-Tulare lead.

The two teams played even volleyball to 19-12, when three service errors by the Wildcats late in the fourth set handed the Lady Patriots points, and they closed out a 25-18 victory for the match win.

Schroeder led the Lady Patriots with 23 kills on 49 of 51 hitting while also leading the team with 22 digs and scoring two aces on 21 of 21 serving. Lila Johnson had 29 assists and was 17 of 17 serving with three aces.

Ella Johnson added two aces and had seven kills on 19 of 26 hitting. Rebecca Huizenga had three blocks.

The Wildcats finish the season 30-6. Haven led the attack with 18 kills on 53 of 60 hitting while Breelyn Satter had 12 kills on 26 of 30 hitting.

Boekelheide set up the offense with 39 assists and was 19 of 19 serving with one ace and had 14 digs to lead the Wildcat defense. Schmitt ended the night with two aces on 17 of 18 serving. Satter had three blocks.

Hitchcock-Tulare will be the third seed in the Class B SoDak 16 on Tuesday. Their opponent and matchup location will be announced later today.