Already down a set and trailing early in the second, Newman knew what it had to do.

The Comets stopped tipping as much and started spiking the ball more, and the energy picked up with each kill as they rallied to defeat Kewanee 21-25, 25-19, 25-17 in a Three Rivers West match Tuesday night.

“Our energy in the first game looked like we didn’t want it, but we pumped each other up between games and told each other we needed to get this win, and we did,” junior setter Brooklyn Smith said. “When a big hit happens, we all get excited, and that definitely helps us pump it up. That’s definitely what happened in the second and third sets: we got way more kills, and that got our energy up.”

Newman (4-9, 2-2 TRAC West) got everybody involved at the net, as eight different players recorded a kill. Bella Lanning slammed six, while Smith, Ruby Burger and Kennedi Shippert finished with five each, and Lauren McLain added four more.

“We kept telling the girls that we just needed to put the ball down hard, and I think as we built up there in the second and continued into the third, we started doing that,” Newman coach Debbi Kelly said. “I thought Brooklyn did a nice job spreading the ball around.”

The Comets led 13-8 in the first set before Kewanee (6-7, 1-3) got rolling. Tough serving by Macy Anderson set the tone – she had 14 points, four aces and two kills – and Macee Pickering (8 assists, 6 kills, 3 digs) and Damaris Diaz (4 kills, 2 blocks) found the openings in the Newman defense for kills.

The Boilermakers scored 17 of the final 25 points to win the first set, then took a 5-2 lead in the second set before the Comets recovered.

“We served pretty strong – Macy was definitely a strong server for us – and I think we were carrying a little bit of momentum that we had from Monday night [in a 2-1 win over St Bede],” Kewanee coach Breanna Cinnamon said. “Then we just got a little bit slow on tip coverage as we went through the match.”

Aces by Claire Von Holten and Gisselle Martin around a Burger kill started the comeback, then consecutive kills by Lanning gave the Comets the lead. Kills by Shippert and Von Holten and aces from Smith and Lucy Oetting put the Comets up 16-11; they led by at least four the rest of the set.

Shippert sandwiched a pair of kills around a McClain ace to tie the third set 3-3, then Lanning spiked three kills and Burger had two more as Newman took control. Amaya Gomez served an ace during a four-point run that included kills from McClain and Smith, then another Shippert kill and a Smith ace made it 19-9. Von Holten’s kill put the Comets at match point, then after a five-point string by the Boilermakers, Smith tipped a second-touch kill to close it out.

“It’s amazing when everybody’s hitting like that,” Smith said. “It helps me a lot when I know I can rely on my hitters and can set anyone. All of my hitters did amazing tonight, and when they made a mistake, they were ready to get back at it and get the next one. I’m very proud of them.”

Smith dished 25 assists and added five digs and two aces, while Martin served for eight points and spiked three kills. Gomez and Brooklyn Warren led the way with 10 digs each, Oetting added eight more, and Lanning chipped in seven.

“I think it was an ugly win for us overall; I thought we were just kind of sleepwalking early on,” Kelly said. “But at least the girls kept their heads in it and kept playing each point and got the job done in that third set.”

Kendyl DeBlieck had seven assists and six digs, and Taylor VanWinkle added eight points, two aces, two kills and three digs for Kewanee. Claire Taylor had nine digs, Bailey VanWinkle added seven more, and Kolbie Cernovich spiked three kills.

“It’s a bump in the road,” Cinnamon said. “We had a really, really strong hitting night Monday, and we’ve just got to figure out where we can kind of keep that consistency. I feel like we made a lot of errors today, and we just have to be able to control what we can control. We have to get that hitting going again, but it’ll come. We’ll get right back to it.”