School lockdown, feisty Hornets can’t stop resilient Mustangs

Locked in their respective Northville High School classrooms for close to three hours Tuesday afternoon due to the threat of a school shooter, the last thing on the minds of members of Northville’s volleyball team was that night’s MHSAA Regional semifinal match against Saline.

“After I received a phone call about the threat, I reached out to all of my players to make sure they were safe,” said Northville Head Coach Sarah Lindstrom. “I’ve never had to do something like that.”

After a sweep of the school, the threat was deemed a hoax by law enforcement and the school’s 2,400 students were cleared to return to their homes.

‘No excuses’

Lindstrom made a plea to move the match to Wednesday, given the impact the lockdown had on her players, but officials decided to move the match back an hour — from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. — and play it at nearby Novi High School instead of Northville High School, the planned site for the match.

“I was upset we had to play (Tuesday),” Lindstrom said. “My kids had an hour or so at home to regulate their emotions and get ready to play a regional match. Before the match, we all cried together. Then I told them, ‘We’re not going to use what happened today as an excuse to lose; we’re going to use it as a reason to win because it brought us closer together’.”

The percentages of the Mustangs pulling out a win against a strong Saline team grew more dim with each early-match point.

Backs against the wall

The Hornets won the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-16.

“Before the third set, I told them to remember our state championship team from three years ago,” Lindstrom reflected. “Everybody expected (Farmington Hills) Mercy to beat us on our own court, but we won. I told them, ‘Believe in me. Believe in yourself. Believe in your teammates.”

Lindstrom’s message resonated among the Mustangs, who won the next two sets, 25-16 and 25-23.

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the fifth and match-deciding fifth set, Northville fought off a tenacious rally by the Hornets to win, 15-11, and cap one of the most extraordinary high school athletic performances in recent memory.

They found a way

“We were injured — two of our top passers (Gabby Savoie and Kaia Bednarz) were on the bench — we lost the first set, then got rolled in the second,” Lindstrom said. “I’d argue that you may not be able to find another team in the state that would be able to rally like we just did.

“We did what our warm-up shirts say: Find A Way. This was one of the most incredible wins of my coaching career.”

(To check out a video of Northville’s dramatic match point, click here.)

When asked who her team’s MVPs were during the victory over Saline, Lindstrom couldn’t pick one or two.

“Honestly, I couldn’t pick out a player who struggled tonight; everybody did their job,” she said. “I had to bench our freshman (Addalyn Moore) for a minute, but I told her I still believed in her. When she went back out there, she was phenomenal.”

Rising to the occasion

It was Moore’s crucial kill that gave Northville a 24-23 lead in set four — and her block with the Mustangs up 14-11 in the fifth set was the final nail in the comeback.

“Our senior leadership was incredible tonight,” Lindstrom noted. “They made sure everybody remained positive even when things were looking bleak.”

Northville returns to its home court Thursday at 6 p.m. to face Okemos in a Regional final — minus the pre-match trauma they somehow managed to navigate through Tuesday afternoon.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.