When Northeastern and Hagerstown volleyball teams took the floor for the sectional championship on Saturday, Oct. 18, the atmosphere was electric. Two neighboring schools, both led by outstanding coaches and loaded with talent, were there to fight it out for the trophy.
Both schools advanced to the sectional final without losing a set during their prior two sectional matches, and they split two head-to-head meetings this season.
The first set was a roller coaster of momentum. The Knights opened with a 4-0 lead. The Tigers came back to tie at 4-4. After ties at 5, 6 and 7 the Tigers gradually pulled out to set point with a 24-20 lead. The Knights fought back to score two points before the Tigers won the set on a kill from Raleigh Doerstler.
The second set turned out to be arguably the most critical of the match. The Tigers had small leads for most of the set. There were 13 ties, the last at 21-21. The Tigers were leading 21-20 with a chance to go up two sets to none, but the Knights closed the set on a 5-0 run to win 25-21 and tie the match.
The third set was also tied at 21-21 before the Knights went on a 4-1 run to win the set 25-22, taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth and determining set was dominated by Northeastern. The only Hagerstown leads came at 11-10 and 12-11 before the Knights steadily pulled away to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Ady Kircher had 46 digs for the Knights, Kamdyn Sum had 19 digs and 15 assists and Alyia Diamond had 16 digs and 16 kills.
Raleigh Doerstler had 17 kills and 17 digs for Hagerstown. Elly Cheeseman had 13 kills and 10 digs, Lilah Doerstler had 11 digs and 21 assists. Millie Glover had 18 assists.
Hagerstown head coach Brian Dale gave Northeastern credit. “Tonight, Northeastern was the better team,” Dale said “They didn’t make mistakes and we did. We had a chance to put them in a very difficult position by winning the second set but we couldn’t finish.”
Northeastern head coach Anne Wissel said that the team has really jelled in the last two weeks. “They are playing for each other. We don’t have one player we rely on. We have 11 players we can rely on and we have developed great team chemistry,” Wissel said. “These girls have been through a lot and I am thrilled to see them win. Hagerstown is really good and they play hard but it was our night.”
It was the last match in Hagerstown volleyball uniforms for Elly Cheeseman and Halle Pruitt.
The Knights will advance to the regional on Saturday, Oct. 25, where they will face Triton Central in a match played in the Morristown gym.
Northeastern (24-9) 22 25 25 25
Hagerstown (21-10) 25 21 22 18
A version of this article will appear in the October 22 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.