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Parwkay's Naomi Knapke (11) goes up to defend as New Bremen's Mary Rindler hits the ball.
ROCKFORD - Twice, New Bremen had Parkway on the ropes.
Each time, the Panthers came back and made it count.
Parkway handed New Bremen its first loss of the season and created a traffic jam on the top of the Midwest Athletic Conference standings with a 20-25, 26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 15-10 win in a battle of state-ranked teams on Tuesday at Panther Gymnasium in Rockford.
Parkway, which lost its first match last Thursday at Marion Local and went five sets on Monday against Lincolnview, moves to 12-1. New Bremen's loss (11-1) creates a five-way tie for first place in the MAC at 3-1.
"Both sides were playing hard with long rallies," said Parkway coach Jordan Henkle. "A lot of scrappy defense and momentum swings. Exactly what you'd expect from a volleyball game."
New Bremen was up as many as seven points in the first set before Parkway fought back to make it close. The second set featured 10 ties and five lead changes. New Bremen went up 24-21 after a long serve and had Ashtyn Eilerman back to serve for a chance to go up 2-0 in the match.
Parkway's Brittyn Bruns goes up for a spike during Tuesday's MAC volleyball match with New Bremen at Panther Gymnasium in Rockford.
Parkway made its move. Naomi Knapke got a kill to get Parkway the serve back. With KJae Stover back to serve, the Cardinals were called for four hits, then Knapke got a kill to tie the set at 24-all. Knapke followed with a block to give Parkway its first lead of the set since 6-5. New Bremen coach Diana Kramer called a timeout, but Brittyn Bruns closed out the comeback with a kill to level the match.
"We showed a lot of mental maturity," said Henkle. "We have a lot of veterans who have been out here before. They did a good job of dialing in and believing."
Parkway kept up the momentum in the third set, allowing just a 1-1 tie early on before getting a comfortable lead as Bruns got an ace on set point to give Parkway a 2-1 lead in the match.
New Bremen's MariAna Muether keeps her eye on the ball against Parkway.
The Panthers went up 5-1 early in the fourth set, but the Cardinals were in no mood to concede. Sparked by solid hitting by Mary Rindler and MariAna Muether, New Bremen took its first lead at 17-16 with a Muether kill. The teams tied at 17-, 18-, 19- and 22-all, but Muether broke the final tie with a kill and gave New Bremen set point with another kill. Bruns prolonged the set by a point before Maria Kramer got the kill to send the match to a fifth set.
"Credit Parkway. They showed up and showed (some) fight. That being said, my team (also) showed some fight," said coach Kramer.
New Bremen got the serve to start the final set and got the first point on a Rindler kill. Savada Triplett quickly tied the set with a kill, but Parkway was unable to take advantage. Back-to-back kills by Muether make it 6-3, prompting Henkle to call a timeout, which paid off as a net serve, but New Bremen quickly added two more points to go up 8-4. The Cardinals were up 9-6 when they were called for being in the net, making the score 9-7 as Hadley Stover went back to serve. A lift on the Cardinals, followed by an ace, tied the set at 9-all. Bruns got a block to put Parkway in to the lead and another Hadley Stover ace make it 11-9 as coach Kramer used her first timeout during the run. Muether got a point back with a kill, but Triplett came up big again with a kill of her own to make it 12-10. KJae Stover served up an ace to make it 13-10, A hitting error gave Parkway match point, then another net violation completed the comeback.
"Our serving got them a little bit off at the end," said Henkle. "We struggled last Thursday (against Marion) and last night (against Lincolnview). I told the girls all of the goals are still there. There's only one unbeaten in the MAC (New Bremen). If you want to be back up at the top, it starts here."
"We're up in the second set. We're up in the fifth set," said coach Kramer. "We've got to find a way to win. That being said, this is what MAC volleyball is all about."
Bruns finished with 23 kills and 17 assists. Knapke had 16 kills. KJae Stover had 23 assists with Emmery Temple, who was honored before the match for reaching 1,000 career digs on Monday, had 12 digs.
Rindler finished with 21 kills and five blocks. Muether had 20 kills and 12 digs. Maria Kramer had 20 digs, Eilerman recorded five blocks and Allie Bornhorst set up the attack with 33 assists.
Both teams are back in MAC play on Thursday. New Bremen returns to the Nest to host Marion Local while Parkway remains at Panther Gymnasium to take on Minster.
