By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Thinking pink left Bedford North Lawrence a little blue.
With the Stars decked out in pink in the annual reminder to raise breast cancer awareness, Madison raised its level midway through the first period and decked BNL in three sets on Monday night.
The Cubs (22-8) fought past an early challenge to post a 25-21, 25-12, 25-17 victory over the Stars (14-13), who could not recover from Madison’s impressive surges and hitting power.
BNL battled to a 15-15 deadlock in the opening set before Madison went on an extended run, finishing off that set and roaring to a 10-3 lead in the second. That deficit expended to 18-8 as the Cubs pulled away. In the third, BNL owned a 10-7 advantage when Madison flexed more muscle with a 10-1 run.
“Once it starts going downhill, it all depends on the score,” BNL coach Aaron Wagoner said. “On an individual basis, one kid is not performing well, and they can’t get over it for the sake of the team. They blame themselves, and everyone else suffers.”
Lilly Canida paced the Madison attack with 14 kills, Brittan Neuman added 9 kills and 12 digs, and Ava Canida totaled 17 digs as the Cubs bounced back from a three-set loss to Floyd Central for their 11th win in the last 13 outings.
”They had two very dominant hitters, from spots we don’t see as much,” Wagoner said. “They had a good hitter in the middle, and their right side was a beast. She could hit it from anywhere, to anywhere. They played well as a team.”
Sammie Gratzer cranked out 10 kills while Lily Mishler and Izzy Root had 4 each. Sara Williams posted 8 digs and Trinidy Bailey added 5 for BNL.
The Stars will visit Seymour to finish out Hoosier Hills Conference action on Tuesday, then return home to host Loogootee and celebrate Senior Night on Thursday.
