'New' Rosary handles Wave
Rosary knew it was going to need to beat the intensity host St. Edward brought to its senior night on Wednesday.
The Royals did that right from the start, jumping out to early leads in both games of their 25-15, 25-18 victory. Rosary's victory places the Royals (25-10, 10-4), St. Edward (18-17, 10-4) and Marian Central in a three-way tie behind St. Francis for second place in the Suburban Catholic Conference.
St. Edward, which defeated the Royals at home earlier in the year, saw a completely different Rosary team this time.
"They ran a pretty fast offense and they passed a lot," Green Wave coach Jamie Walton said. "They had a lot of kids really come along. (Lindsey) Weber wasn't a factor the last time we played."
Weber certainly was this time. The outside hitter finished with 5 kills on the right side and netted a pair of aces in the final 5 points of Game 1 to seal the victory.
But it wasn't just Weber. Amy Kus had 3 blocks, Alex Bodayka added 3 kills and Karen Matic finished with 10 assists.
Kelly Hogan (6 kills, 5 digs) gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in both games with a tip.
"We knew it was going to be their senior night and they would be fired up," Weber said. "Once we got the first point, it carried us through the whole game."
St. Edward did take leads in both games, but it failed to sustain them for very long. In Game 1, the Green Wave went up 13-11 when Kristen Haggenjos (6 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks) came up with a monster kill.
The Green Wave then had a pair of hitting errors and Rosary, led by 2 kills from Weber, closed the game out on a 14-2 run. In Game 2, St. Edward went up 10-9 on a Katie Yohn (10 kills, 7 blocks, 6 assists) kill but did not lead again.
"Their energy was definitely up," Yohn said. "I think they wanted to prove a point. Their right side really hurt us. They've developed a lot."
Spreading the ball around and using the right side was the game plan for the Royals coming into Wednesday's match. Amelia Wegman added 4 kills for an offense that got consistent attacks from the left and right sides as well as the middle.
"We're spreading our offense out," Royals coach Lisa Kasper said. "We're not relying on just the outside attack. We're using more of what we have."
Molly Kelly and Tess Barry finished with 4 blocks apiece for the Green Wave, while Rachael Varley added 10 assists.
Larkin d. Leyden:The Royals (9-23) came out victorious on senior night and were led by Isadora Dorrero at the net. Dorrero tallied 8 blocks with a pair of kills to help defeat Leyden in nonconference action 17-25, 25-23, 25-15. Amanda Lye also put down 7 kills while teammate Jessica Harris posted 3 aces with 7 kills.
Women's soccer
Judson d. Olivet Nazarene: Christina Thornton moved closer to becoming the all-time points leader at Judson as she picked up the first goal of the game against Olivet Nazarene off a Rebecca O'Donnell assist. The goal gives her 134 career points. Thornton only needs 4 more points to surpass Leslie Ferguson's record of 137. Lynsey McFarland secured the win for Judson University (7-9-1, 4-4) when McFarland tapped in the winning goal off of an Emma Mugg assist to make it 2-1 over Olivet Nazarene University (9-6-1, 4-4). Mackenzie Fowler was in goal for the Eagles finishing the match with one save while facing 7 shots.