By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Don’t make Izzy Root angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
Root went into Bruce Banner mode late in the final set, powering Bedford North Lawrence to a four-set victory over Jeffersonville. Down 18-10, with a dangerous fifth set looming as a possibility, the Stars battled back for a 25-23, 17-25, 25-18, 25-23 win as they capped their Pink Out for cancer awareness fundraiser with a clutch Hoosier Hills Conference triumph on Saturday.
Fueled by that inner fire, Root blasted four key winners at the net during the comeback. She finished with 18 kills and five blocks during a dominant performance at the net.
“I got some anger built up, started getting really mad,” Root said, now smiling after the rally. “I got this mentality, and when I get angry I just go out there and do my thing. I don’t want anyone to talk to me.”
There wasn’t much to talk about when the Red Devils (7-19 overall, 0-5 in the league) rumbled to a huge lead in that fourth set. Then Root ripped two kills, and Amelia Lawmaster tipped down a point for a 21-21 deadlock. Root kills gave BNL leads at 23-22 and 24-23, and Jenna Allen’s tip off a blocker secured match point.
”As a team, we saw we were down,” Root said. “But we could come back up.”
Rather than take anger management classes – “Izzy’s not like that, she’s a nice kid, a wonderful kid,” BNL coach Aaron Wagoner said – BNL just needed a dose of emotion and passion.
”We need more emotion,” Root said. “We know we play so much better when we have more energy. We saw that today. When we play with anger and grit, we can succeed.”
Lily Mishler had 19 kills and two blocks, Allen finished with seven kills, Adalynn Bailey totaled 37 assists and 13 digs, and Lily Wagoner added 17 digs for the Stars (10-15, 3-2 in the HHC).
“There were bits of everything today, bits of terrible hits and great attacks,” Wagoner said. “It’s almost like we forgot who we were. We need them to be stable. Don’t be a boat anchor and pull them down, build them up. But I was proud of them for the rally. That’s a tough thing to do.
“Some of them do play better when you tick them off. It’s a fight-or-flight thing. There are some that say ‘give me the ball.’ We need more ‘give me the ball’ kids.”
BNL will learn its postseason fate when the IHSAA announces the sectional pairings on Sunday. The Stars will host Seymour to close out league competition on Tuesday.
