LINCOLN — The Class B state volleyball final will be remembered for two things.

The way Grand Island Northwest refused to quit, and the way Omaha Gross dug deep in the final set to win it.

The top-ranked Cougars prevailed 19-25, 25-7, 25-15, 21-25, 15-13 to capture the school’s third state title in the championship match Saturday night at the NU Coliseum. It was a frustrating finish for the Vikings, who have been the Class B state runner-up the past three years.

“I did not expect a wild match like that,’’ Cougars coach Korrine Schuster said. “Their team has a lot of heart, and they just kept coming back on us.’’

Northwest got off to a great start, winning the first set by six points. The Vikings led most of the way and captured the set on a net violation.

“It wasn’t a shock to me that we lost that first game,’’ Schuster said. “We’ve gotten off to a slow start a number of times but have been able to bounce back.’’

The Cougars did just that in a big way, roaring off to a 16-3 lead in the second set to eventually tie the match. Gross then rode that momentum into the third set and pulled away to a 10-point win, looking to everyone like a team that would finish the match in the next set.

But the Vikings refused to fold and got it together in the fourth set, rallying from an early four-point deficit to tie the set at 20. Northwest won the next three points and tied the match a few points later on a kill by Emily Jones.

A fifth set was needed to decide the champion, and the lead see-sawed. The score was tied 10-10 before the Vikings won three of the next four points to take a 13-11 advantage in the 15-point final.

At that point, Schuster called her most important timeout of the season.

“I called a play and told our girls to run it,’’ she said. “And I reminded them that this was what all our hard work has been about this season.’’

The Cougars ran the play to perfection as Meghan Zimmerman set 6-foot-2 hitter Emily Wilson for the kill. A shot by the Vikings then sailed long and Nicole Gregory delivered a kill — a shot that landed just inside the sideline — to put the Cougars one point from the win.

Kendall Kritenbrink then capped the four-point run, smacking a kill for the title.

“It’s tough,’’ Northwest coach Diane Rouzee said. “We came back and battled, and I’m really proud of my team for that.’’

Wilson and Mary Delich finished with 18 kills each for the Cougars while Gregory had 16 and Kritenbrink 13. Zimmerman dished out 64 assists while libero Emily Guerra, the only senior on the team, had 19 digs and seven assists.

“They’re a very good team and hard to defend,’’ Delich said. “We had to battle like crazy to win.’’

Taylor Johnson led the Vikings with 15 kills.

Contact the writer:

444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com