Blazers Bounce No. 7 Brookhaven in 5-Set District Thriller

MESQUITE, Texas – If ever there was a volleyball match defined by ebb and flow, this was it.

Dallas College North Lake's volleyball team survived a five-set marathon with No. 7 nationally-ranked Dallas College Brookhaven in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South District semifinals Friday at Dallas College Eastfield.

North Lake overcame double match point down in the decisive fifth set to pull out a match Brookhaven stormed back from a two-set deficit to seize control. The Blazers prevailed with a 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 26-28, 20-18 victory.

Trailing 14-12 following an error in the fifth set, North Lake responded with a block by Kinleigh Hall and kill by Love Riley to tie it up at 14-14. Both teams swapped points over the next eight serves before the Blazers secured the final two points, the last on a combination block by Hope Miller and Hall to advance after the two-hour-and-16-minute battle.

The Blazers (17-17) will play for the district championship for the first time in program history when they match up with No. 1 nationally-ranked and unbeaten Dallas College Eastfield 4 p.m. Saturday in a match that will air on TSBN. Eastfield (30-0) advanced to the title match with a sweep of Dallas College Richland.

Riley had 21 kills, and hit .279, while adding 13 digs and three blocks. Ayanna Manikham had 13 kills in 56 swings, 23 digs, two blocks and three aces. Hall finished with 10 kills, six blocks and a .308 attack percentage. Hadley Klock had 35 assists and 22 digs. Carly Korrodi added 24 digs and 12 assists. Skyler Brooks finished with 27 digs and four assists, and provided a pivotal kill in the fifth set that trimmed the Bears' lead to one as the finish line drew closer.

The Blazers hit .303 in the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Hall's kill gave North Lake a 22-20 lead, and Riley finished it off with a kill of her own to move the Blazers within a set of closing it out.

Then it got interesting.

Brookhaven, which had advanced to the district championship in every previous season under 20-year head coach Jason Hopkins, rallied in unprecedented fashion. Laila Beck slammed down a ball in the middle of the floor to bring the Bears within 13-12 in the third set. Riley answered with a block on the next serve as the Blazers regained a two-point cushion. Emma Borders served Brookhaven to a 15-15 tie, and Beck's kill pushed the Bears on top, 19-17. Beck blasted a ball off a North Lake block to extend the Bears' lead to 23-18. She then pushed down a winner, and bashed another down the middle as Brookhaven claimed its first set.

Beck finished with 17 kills on 36 attacks, and had five blocks.

In the fourth set, Caroline Simpson's kill gave Brookhaven a 16-11 lead. Manikham had two straight putaways as the Blazers cut it to 19-18 before Simpson banged a ball off the North Lake block to nudge the lead back to two. Manikham's ace tied things up at 20, and the Blazers won the next two points to grab a 22-20 lead. Tabitha Westbrook's block brought the Bears within one. Following a Kinleigh Kill, Westbrook found a vacant corner of the floor two serves later to tie it up again, 23-23. Riley's kill moved North Lake within a point of clinching the match, but Madison Beasley's cross-court laser extended the set to extra serves. After both sides traded errors, Beck took over again in crunch time, coming up with a kill and a tapdown for a winner to seal the set, squaring the match at 2-2.

Simpson had 18 kills on 54 swings, 17 digs, two aces and a block. Beasley finished with 16 kills, 14 digs, an ace and a block. Trynity Hicks led the Bears with 18 digs, and Jordan Bruscato had 41 assists and 10 digs.

It was the second time this season Bruscato had at least 40 assists in a match.

Yet while the numbers continued to pile up for the Bears, the Blazers – presumed to be vanquished in the dwindling serves – did not buckle under the magnitude of what was at stake, instead opting to extinguish the flames when Brookhaven turned up the heat. North Lake needed six match point opportunities before Hall and Hope's heroics punched its ticket to a place it has never been before.

North Lake had 54 kills in 194 attacks, and dug 131 balls in a match that won't fade to black easily.

The Blazers' 17 wins are the most in program history under 10-year head coach Cathy Carter. North Lake, which knocked off one NJCAA Division I opponent and four NJCAA Division II schools, including Seminole State College twice, secured its second victory over NJCAA Division III Top 10-ranked Brookhaven this year. The Blazers, who won their sixth straight match for the second time this season, beat every other team in the Dallas Athletic Conference besides Eastfield.

They'll get that opportunity on Championship Saturday.