Thunder storm past Mendota

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OREGON – Every time her team needed her, West Carroll’s Rebecca Fritz delivered.

Fritz dominated the Thunder’s sectional semifinal clash with Mendota, piling up 21 kills while leading West Carroll to a hard-fought 25-22, 17-25, 25-23 victory.

“It’s so exciting, especially since it’s the first sectional win for West Carroll,” Fritz said. “It’s hard to believe.

“I kept my confidence up and kept swinging away. In the second game, our excitement went down and our passes weren’t there. In the first and last games, we got our excitement high and kept going. We played like it was going to be our last game.”

The Thunder (23-12) advance to a sectional championship matchup with Harvard (24-12), 7 p.m. Thursday.

Trailing 23-22 in the third and decisive game after three straight points by Mendota (28-10), West Carroll responded with a match-ending three-point run of its own.

Fritz, a senior, ignited the burst with a kill. Junior teammate Sophi Morhardt, who had nine kills, followed with a go-ahead kill, and the Thunder closed things with a third straight point.

The difference was never more than two points in the thrill-a-minute third game.

Trailing 21-19 in the first game, the Thunder closed the game with a 6-1 tear that included three kills by Fritz.

“I would like to say it’s a wonderful feeling, but when I’m sitting on that bench, it’s not that wonderful,” West Carroll coach Craig Cross joked. “Our team is notorious for this kind of thing.

“That’s the main character of this team. They just never quit.”

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