The rematch between the formidable teams was played at the Eddie Chambers Memorial Gymnasium, and at first it looked like North Dickinson would hang loss number two on Forest Park. But somehow, the Lady Trojans stormed back for a rather improbable 15-25, 15-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-7 victory to gain their revenge.

It was the second time this year that Forest Park has climbed out of a two-set hole to win. The first came on Aug. 26 against Carney-Nadeau.

“We definitely play better under pressure,” FP coach Bobbie Jo Anderson said. “The first two games, we had no energy and the girls just kind of went through the motions. Then when it gets to that third game and it’s do or die, they definitely picked it up.”

The Nordics charged out of the gate, controlling play on their end and causing the Lady Trojans all kind of problems on defense. Ashton Hord, Chrislyn Inglese and Kassandra Cary all recorded kills in the opening set, while Micah Lindholm added a block.

Inglese also added two aces as ND led from wire-to-wire in the first set.

The second set was more of the same as the Nordics jumped out to an 8-2 lead on the strength of two kills from Inglese. Lindholm added a block and a kill later in the set as North Dickinson took a two-set lead.

Though Forest Park tightened up its play in the third, the Nordics held an 18-16 lead and were within sight of a sweep. But the Lady Trojans ran off nine of the next 10 points to force a fourth set.

“I think we got overconfident,” ND coach Taylor Johnson said. “We’ve seen Forest Park a lot this year (in invitationals and duals) and we’ve done really well against them. We knew they were on a hot streak and they played very well. I think we just lost our momentum.”

The match changed with the emergence of sophomore Ema Stepien, who pounded three kills down the stretch of the third set. Like many younger players, Stepien has been inconsistent at times this year, but she showed up huge against North Dickinson.

“When we’re at practice, she’s a force to be reckoned with and she can kill that ball,” Anderson said. “I knew it was only a matter of time before she started doing that in a game.”

Stepien’s block sealed the fourth set for the Lady Trojans, who then ran off the first 11 points of the deciding set. Ashlynn Kannich fired two aces during her run of service points.

While happy with the win, Anderson said her team can’t afford to continually fall behind against the top teams.

“We don’t want to play from behind every game and be under pressure with our backs against the wall. Because it’s eventually not going to work out.”

Johnson praised Hord for her play, which included a career-best 41 digs.

“I’ve never seen her play that aggressively. She was amazing. She’s going to have some well-deserved bruises.”

Forest Park won the junior varsity contest 2-1.

In other Iron County volleyball action Thursday night, the West Iron County Wykons recorded their fourth dual match win of the season with a 25-14, 25-19, 25-16 win over L’Anse in West PAC Conference action at the Charles Greenlund Memorial Gymnasium in Iron River.

FP Stats:

Rayven Jacobson-3 kills, 10 digs, 19 assists, 3 aces

Charlie Larson- 8 digs, 14 assists, 2 aces

Gracie Peterson-12 kills, 7 digs, 1 block, 2 aces

Ashlynn Kannich- 1 kill, 26 digs, 7 aces

Leah Feldhausen-4 kills, 2 digs, 1 block,

Ema Stepien- 9 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks

Audrey Franz-6 kills, 2 digs, 2 aces

Maddie Divine-6 digs, 2 aces

Lauren Kudwa-3 kills, 3 assists, 1 block