One day soon the Northside Lady Bears will beat the Southside Mavericks.

That day wasn’t Thursday, though.

Southside’s Emily Bass had 13 kills and Sage Rankin and Hannah Holland had 12 and 11, respectively, as the Mavericks rallied to beat Northside, 25-14, 25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12.

The Lady Bears (8-7-1, 3-4) put themselves in harms way in the first two games before Northside coach Matt Waack made a slight lineup adjustment.

Southside (14-6, 5-2) has beaten Northside 27 straight times dating back to 2006.

“In the first two games, they made it pretty easy on us,” Southside coach Steve Haaser said. “To their credit, they fixed what they were doing. I feel like they outplayed us in the next two games, and most of the last one, too.”

“We’ve got to get used to winning,” Waack said. “A lot of these kids were in the program when we were 4-and-28. To be able to stay in control and stay focused, that’s something we’ve been working on. I’ve got a great offense. I’ve got big hitters and the defense is solid.”

Southside rolled 25-14 in the opener before falling behind, 15-10, in the second game.

But Bass snapped a 17-17 tie with one of her kills, followed by a tip and one of Holland’s five aces to steal the second game, 25-18.

Northside flipped the script in the third game, erasing a 10-5 deficit for a 25-19 victory. Despite eight ties, Southside was never able to grab the lead in the fourth game, setting the stage for the fifth game.

The Lady Bears built a 6-3 lead before Southside found some magic. Tied at 12, the Mavs took their third lead of the set (13-12) and then got a key kill from Holland for a 14-12 advantage.

Holland ended the thriller with an ace.

“That was a big win for us,” Haaser said. “That puts us 5-and-2 in the conference in the first round, and we were very lucky to get out of here with a win. We’ll take it and run with it.”

Bass and Hailey Hogue finished with 32 and 22 digs, respectively, for Southside. Jenna Mullins had 33 assists.

Alexis Evans and Chloe Fitzgerald had 15 kills apiece for the Lady Bears. Nicole Medlin had 14 and Nakiah Willis finished with 13 kills. Sydney Green and Jaide Smith added 28 and 17 digs, respectively.

“We’re going to win some ball games,” Waack said. “We’ve got to hopefully find it in time for the state tournament and make a run. I love my kids; I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything in the world.”
