Girls volleyball: Hersey downs Prospect to stay unbeaten in MSL East
Senior setter Kaiya Eshoo knows how to set up the hitters for the Hersey girls volleyball team.
Fellow senior hitter Kati Kaburov brought her all-around game to the match as well.
Eshoo played her position to perfection in dishing out 24 assists in the Huskies' 25-17, 25-16 win in the Mid-Suburban East at the Jean Walker Field House at Prospect High School Tuesday night.
The win gives the Huskies a two-game lead in the division with a 6-0 record (17-3 overall). The Knights whose only other conference loss was to Hersey, fell to 13-7, 5-2.
"She's an athlete and runs the court so well," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill of Eshoo. "She's our quarterback on the floor. She knows how to set up the hitters and when to get the ball to them. She's quick and athletic and is having a great year."
The same could be said for Kaburov, who had an outstanding game of her own with 12 kills, 11 digs and 1 block.
"I was really into it tonight," said Kaburov, a senior. "In the second match we were going back and forth with them after they had the lead early in the match. Our defense started to get our offense going. It's because of our defense that our offense is so good. We have such a good mentality. We are an aggressive team that has the mentality to score points or to get kills on each serve."
The second set saw the Knights jump out to a 4-1 lead but the Huskies played strong around the net picking up points with blocks.
Trailing 12-11, Hersey spun off a 7-0 run with Kaburov accounting for 4 points and Janine Boyan 2. With the 19-12 lead, the Huskies coasted to the finish winning 25-16.
"Katie brings everything, and I mean everything to her game," said Lill, whose career win total now stands at 995. "She can dominate a game. She passes well, and serves and blocks. She handles every aspect of the game. That's what makes her so special."
In the first set, Hersey opened a 16-8 lead and then withstood two 3-0 runs by the Knights to finish ahead 25-17. Boyan scored the 25th point on Eshoo's assist.
"The hitters make my job easier," said Eshoo. "When I set them up, they know what to do. They make it easy by being in position. For me it's a lot of practice and being at the right place at the right time. Conference-wise were in a good position. We can't go into games cocky and think we're going to win."
The Knights received some very strong performances from Jenna Acosta with 5 kills. Mia Farraday recorded 14 digs. Claire Beattie had 7 digs as did Grace Cacini, who also had 2 blocks.
"Hersey made some real good blocks," said Prospect coach Laura Gerber. "I thought our defense played well. That 7-0 run in the second match was hard to overcome. I'm very proud of the way my girls played tonight."