Who’s your Mattie?: Norris delivers emphatic display offensively to power Hawks to regional quarterfinal victory

QUINCY — The adjustments being made to combat the Quincy University women’s volleyball team’s full-throttle attack come as no surprise to outside hitter Mattison Norris.

“People are going to scout us,” she said. “People know how to shut us down.”

That leaves it to the Hawks to adapt.

It didn’t happen in a three-set loss to Lewis in last weekend’s semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, a match in which Norris, a unanimous first-team All-GLVC selection, was held without a kill while hitting for a negative percentage.

“It really broke my heart thinking I couldn’t get my team where I was supposed to take them,” said Norris, who had only four previous matches with less than 10 kills, the lowest being five against Truman State. “I know my role on this team and I know a lot of people depend on me to get us out of stuff. And I couldn’t.

“I never want to see the look on people’s faces looking back at me going, ‘Mattie, c’mon, do something. Get us out of this. Mattie, c’mon, help us out.’ I know I overthink a lot, but I will never forget that look on my teammates faces.

“So coming into tonight, I was like, ‘Not once am I going to see somebody look like that at me. Not once. I am going to do everything I can to get this done.’”

That included coming back with a vengeance.

Norris powered the Hawks to a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 victory over Northern Michigan in Thursday night’s quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional at Pepsi Arena as she collected 15 kills and had just two hitting errors in 33 chances.

“Coming off that (GLVC Tournament performance), it was definitely a wake-up call for me,” Norris said. “I never want to see that look again.”

All she got this time were smiles, high-fives and hugs.

That’s because Norris was dominant when it mattered most. She had six kills in the third set, ensuring the Hawks stayed even during a stretch in which the Wildcats attempted to fight their way back into the match. Quincy won eight of the final nine points to finish the match and the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.

“It’s special to be a part of this,” Norris said. “This is something we will remember.”