Larkin handles St. Edward

If there were an Elgin city volleyball championship, Larkin would be well on its way to claiming the title.

The Royals knocked off their second crosstown opponent in a week, downing St. Edward Thursday night in 2 games by identical 25-18 scores.

After beating archrival Elgin on Tuesday, the Royals were fired up again.

“They know a lot of the kids on the other team,” said Larkin coach Henry Graack. “I don’t have to motivate them against a team like this. They wanted to win really bad and you could tell.”

“We’ve been talking about this all day,” said Larkin’s Olivia Kofie. “We heard some people from the other team talking earlier.”

Whatever the motivation, the Royals came out strong, opening a 15-3 lead in Game 1. The Green Wave posted a 6-2 run midway through the game to keep things interesting, but Larkin was able to seal the win by trading points with the Wave thereafter.

Kofie had 14 kills and 7 digs for the Royals (14-10). Brianna Stewart added 12 kills, 4 assists, 5 digs, and 2 blocks. Alexis Price had 5 kills and 5 digs, and setter Alyssa McGhee had 23 assists.

Game 2 started much the same way, with the Royals blowing out to a 10-3 lead before the Wave found its equilibrium.

A kill by Stewart made it 21-12. The Wave then rattled off 4 straight points, but it was too little, too late for St. Edward, which never seemed to get in sync.

“We were sitting back on our heels waiting for big hits,” said St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi. “They rolled the whole first game, pretty much.

“Our passing is a little off right now, and when we aren’t passing well, things can’t happen for us.”

Katie Swanson and Shannon Igielski had 6 kills apiece for St. Edward. Alyssa Saunders was the leader in the back row with 6 digs.

The Royals, on the other hand, hope things are coming together.

“I would like this to be the turning point for us,” said Graack. “We’ve been kind of disappointed with how we’ve played overall, but this was a great match.”