E-P\u2019s Lauren Abbott led the way with nine kills and two of the team\u2019s 10 block assists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little nervous,\u201d Abbott said of not having fellow seniors Johnson and Keegan. \u201cI think we really just came in with a purpose to try as hard as we can. Just try to communicate and really do our best.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had our energy up, so that was good too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Comets (10-16, 4-4) did not make it easy on their home court on pink out night. <\/p>\n
Newman forged a 22-all tie in the first set after trailing 15-9, but the Panthers scored the final three points to take the first set. <\/p>\n
The Comets led the second set 15-11, but E-P battled back and held on down the stretch to get back in the win column. Newman trailed just 22-21 in the second set, and then the Panthers made the plays when it mattered most. <\/p>\n
Alaina Frank and Aubrey Huisman each had four kills, and Kayler Pritchard had three for the Panthers. Wynn Renkes had 12 assists, and Lia Milem had nine. Brynn Brown had 10 of E-P\u2019s 28 digs. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pretty deep off the bench,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cWe can bring in a lot of good players that maybe don\u2019t see the floor all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Erie-Prophetstown’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/J2SHUIYEOFCFJNP4PVUTY6YC2M.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Erie-Prophetstown\u2019s Lauren Abbott hammers a spike past the Newman defense Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n
E-P coach Rachel Bramm was looking for her team to bounce back after just their third loss this season. <\/p>\n
\u201cLosing isn\u2019t something that we\u2019ve been used to this season, so just trying to move past that and get on to the next game,\u201d she said. \u201cA little shorthanded today. We\u2019re just typing to rest up and recover in preparation for the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Panthers are a No. 1 seed in the Class 2A Rock Falls Regional, playing their first game Oct. 28. Sherrard is on the opposite side of the sectional bracket.<\/p>\n
Bramm was confident in her team\u2019s depth. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it proves to themselves as well as our competition and the rest of the conference that we\u2019re deep,\u201d she said, \u201cand even if we don\u2019t have our best out there, we can still be a really competitive team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newman coach Deb Kelly said her team had missed opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to better at adjustments during the game,\u201d she said. \u201cStuff that E-P did, that\u2019s part of their maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Newman’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CIICLHX2MFDRBCLAIOUEWT7IVM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Newman\u2019s Brooklyn Smith sets the ball against Erie-Prophetstown Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n
Kelly said the Comets also struggled against E-P\u2019s size at the net. The Panthers ran their offense well without their starting setter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey still have hitters,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThey did a nice job moving the ball around and getting us off balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isabella Lanning led Newman with eight kills, Lucy Oetting had six digs and Brooklyn Smith had 22 assists. Gisselle Martin had four kills, an ace and two blocks. Ruby Burger had four kills and Lauren MCClain added three kills, one ace and a block. <\/p>\n
Newman has continued to improve this season after just two wins last season. Newman will open the postseason Oct. 27 against Mendota. The winner will face Sherrard the next day. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve made some big gains throughout as a whole team,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole idea for us right now is just to be peaking as we go into the [end] of the season. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to do it together and not to drop. We just need to keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newman\u2019s Brooklyn Smith sets the ball against Erie-Prophetstown Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Playing without two of their most experienced players, Ashlyn Johnson and Kaylee Keegan, Erie-Prophetstown was also coming off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,982,980,305,981,984,983,985],"class_list":{"0":"post-818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news","11":"tag-erie-prophetstown-preps","12":"tag-girls-volleyball","13":"tag-high-school-sports","14":"tag-newman-central-catholic-preps","15":"tag-sauk-valley","16":"tag-sauk-valley-front-headlines","17":"tag-sauk-valley-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}