Brynn Hessel had nine kills and nine digs to lead third-seeded Northwestern to a 25-14, 25-20, 26-24 victory over second-seeded Cumberland Thursday night, Oct. 22, in their WIAA regional playoff opener in Cumberland.
Brynn Erickson added three kills and 16 digs, Allison Luoma had six kills and 10 digs, Kayla Paulsen had seven kills and nine digs, Marie Livingston had eight kills and Brinley Tonn paced the offense with 32 set assists.
Northwestern (4-6) advances to the regional finals at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Barron, a 3-0 winner over Hayward.
“We made some big adjustments this week and the girls really responded well,” Tigers coach Charlie Hessel said. “Brynn Erickson anchored our serve-receive and did a great job of starting our offense. Brinley spread the ball around and found our hot hitters. As a result, we only had nine errors.
“Brynn Hessel and Marie Livingston each had big nights at the net. I give Cumberland a lot of credit, they really put up a battle after the first set. In the third, we had a difficult time getting Siri Hyatt out of the front row. She killed us, but when she rotated out of the front, we were able to take advantage.”
