JCA struts its stuff vs. Carmel

Carmel Catholic girls volleyball coach Bill Szczesniak wanted to see visiting Joliet Catholic work for its points.

The Corsairs achieved that goal, but they could not stop 6-foot-2 Kelly Murphy, who led the unbeaten Angels to a 25-10, 25-22 victory in an East Suburban Catholic Conference match Thursday night.

Joliet Catholic improved to 14-0 overall and 5-0 in the ESCC.

Carmel fell to 9-8 and 2-4.

Murphy had 14 kills, including 9 in the second game. She scored 6 points on tips and had 5 blocks.

"Kelly Murphy is amazing," Szczesniak said. "The girl can hit from anywhere and has beautiful hands on sets. What can you say? She's just an awesome player."

Joliet Catholic's Katie Jasnica, a 6-foot junior, added 4 kills and 2 blocks. Brianna Fleener had 3 blocks.

For Carmel, Vanessa Toby and Kaitlyn Howard each had 6 kills. Ashley August contributed 9 assists and 5 digs, and Kelsey Fredrick had 5 digs.

In the first game, senior Samantha Greben (13 points) served the first 10 points as Joliet Catholic jumped out to a 15-1 lead and never looked back.

"We've been coming out strong in the first game all season," Joliet Catholic coach Christine Scheibe said. "That's just a characteristic of this team."

In the second game, Joliet Catholic built a 12-6 lead until Toby had 3 straight kills. She helped the Corsairs pull even at 14-14, but Murphy had 3 blocks in a row to spark a 5-2 run for the Angels, who never relinquished the lead after that.

"In the second game, I think we weren't passing very well and we couldn't get the ball to our hitters," Scheibe said. "(Carmel) was doing a nice job of making our defense move and our passing just wasn't there."

"We just told our team to keep positive and keep fighting the entire way," Szczesniak said. "The whole thing is that we know how good (Joliet Catholic) is. The goal was to make them work and get some points."