FERNDALE - There's only one thing Sehome's Megan Johnson enjoys as much as playing volleyball with Ferndale's Laurel Erdman - playing against her.
Johnson and Erdman play on the same Whatcom volleyball club team during the offseason, but as the Mariners and Golden Eagles entered Tuesday night's match with identical Northwest Conference records, any jovial attitude towards one another proved absent.
"I definitely love playing with Laurel," Johnson said. "But I love playing against her and digging her shots and blocking her."
Turns out, it's not just Johnson who loves to combat Erdman's powerful strikes, as Sehome rallied together to beat Ferndale 25-23, 25-17, 25-17 in an NWC match, at Ferndale High School.
"It was great tonight," Sehome coach Kristy White said. "We beat them early in the year at a tournament in pool play, so we knew they wanted to get some vengeance. We have multiple hitters, and they all played well tonight."
Besides Johnson's game-high 16 kills, sophomores Ericka Smith and Taylor Lyall struck the ball well throughout the game, keeping Ferndale off balance.
In a match that Sehome (7-4, 7-3 NWC) seemed to dominate throughout, Ferndale (6-5, 6-4 NWC) squandered an early first-set lead, which proved to have drastic repercussions on the outcome and momentum of the match.
Neither the Mariners nor the Golden Eagles led by more than three points in the first set, until a hitting error by Sehome's Katie Becker gave Ferndale a 23-19 advantage.
"In practice we work on playing in different situations," White said. "One of them is being down 23-20. I told (the team) if they really wanted to go to four sets with Ferndale, we could."
The Mariners didn't need to.
With Smith serving, Sehome won six straight points to take the first set.
Two of the six points came on aces from Smith, and Johnson scored two of the points with a pair of powerful kills. The Mariners were awarded their final point after Ferndale's Tara Hanson committed a hitting error.
"We just try to get a couple points at a time," Johnson said. "That's what we always look to do, and it was nice it was able to happen for us tonight. That definitely gave us the momentum for the rest of the game."
The first set comeback appeared to stifle and fluster Ferndale, who, until those last six points in the first, was playing a strong match.
Sehome quickly extended an 8-1 lead in the second set, as Ferndale committed a number of hitting errors. In all the Golden Eagles made 10 hitting errors in the set, as Ferndale coach Patti Hoelzle worked with her lineup to find someone on her bench to give the Golden Eagles a spark.
"I think Sehome came to play, and we didn't," Hoelzle said. "We've bounced back from situations like (the first set) before and have been fine. I think we just needed a leader to make a play for us, but it didn't look like anyone wanted to do that."
The Mariners worked the second set score to 10-7, but Sehome went on another run, sparked by three kills off the hand of Johnson to give Sehome a 18-8 lead.
The Mariners then eased their way to a 25-17 win.
In the third set, Ferndale, once again, found itself fighting from behind as the Golden Eagles trailed 8-1 early.
A couple of Erdman kills helped Ferndale climb back to a within a manageable 12-8 deficit. Later in the set, after a kill by Ferndale's Allie Morgan and a hitting error by Sehome's Becker, the Golden Eagles found themselves down just one, 16-15. But Johnson, Smith and Lyall swiftly erased any notion of a Ferndale comeback, as Sehome recorded eight of the set's final 10 points to take the third 25-17.
"(Johnson) has been hurt all year, and to see her do what she's been doing on one leg has been great," White said. "She's a player that appreciates everyone on the team."
With Tuesday's win, the Mariners have won six of their last seven matches.
"We really are coming together as a team and working hard," Johnson said. "It's my senior year, and I really want to go to state."
Sehome libero Kendra Thomas finished with 13 digs and Mariners' setter Alex Wilkinson added 35 assists in the winning effort.
Erdman finished with a team-high 10 kills for Ferndale and Karley Eggert made 18 digs.
Sehome's next match is against city-rival Squalicum 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at Sehome High School. Ferndale is set to play Mount Baker 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at Mount Baker High School.
Reach Andrew Lang at andrew.lang@bellinghamherald.com or call 360-756-2862.
