The Norwalk volleyball team outlasted a scrappy Bondurant-Farrar opponent on Thursday night, winning their Class 4A, Region 6 semifinal in four sets. The 11th-ranked Warriors survived and advanced with a 25-23, 25-16, 18-25, 25-23 victory, and will now face fifth-ranked Pella in the regional finals on Tuesday night.

Norwalk overcame a 15-12 deficit in set one, getting two late kills from freshman Elle Hatlevig to finish on top. The Warriors grabbed an early 9-1 lead in set two and cruised to a nine-point win, but the Bluejays led nearly wire-to-wire in set three to extend the match. Norwalk led the fourth set 20-13 before holding off a valiant Bluejay rally down the stretch. On their fourth match point, the Warriors prevailed on Jillian Hammond’s eighth kill of the night.

One year after making the program’s first-ever state tournament appearance, Norwalk is back in the regional final round for a fourth consecutive season. Senior Dakota Poen tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that she is proud of this year’s team for making great progress with many new faces in the rotation. Poen says that the Warriors’ team chemistry allowed them to make it through some rough stretches on Thursday night.

“I think the biggest thing for me is having my teammates there for me,” Poen said. “I think it’s all about the team. Whenever I’m down personally, I know my teammates always lift me up, they always tell me I got it, and they’re always there for me, so I think it’s really about lifting your teammates up.”

Unofficially, Hatlevig led Norwalk with 11 kills on the night, followed by Emmory Toppenberg with 10 and Hammond’s eight kills without an error. Toppenberg and Hammond both had five blocks and Hadley Michael set 33 assists.

Norwalk improved to 28-13 overall while Bondurant-Farrar finished 16-19. The Warriors will travel to Pella for Tuesday’s Region 6 final against the 38-7 Dutch at 7:00 p.m. Pella defeated Norwalk 3-0 in a Little Hawkeye Conference match on September 24.