Rosary watches lead slip away against Marian Central

With a chance to put away Marian Central Wednesday night, Rosary instead let the Hurricanes get away.

The Royals took a 5-point lead three times in Game 1, the latest at 21-16, but never got to point 22. Marian stormed back to win 25-21, 25-21 and take its Suburban Christian Conference opener.

It was a familiar story for Rosary (5-4, 1-1), which has been plagued by untimely errors in the early part of the season.

"Too many mistakes and not taking advantage of enough of their mistakes," Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said. "They played a solid game, we didn't."

Rosary senior Emily Weber served five points, two on aces, to put the Royals ahead 7-2. Marian (6-2, 1-0) got its offense going to tie the game at 9 and 11, only to watch Weber, Amelia Wegman and Amy Kus deliver kills and help Rosary regain a cushion at 17-12, 19-14 and 21-16.

A kill from Shelby Cassesse gave the Hurricanes a sideout, then setter Abby Gilleland rattled off eight straight service points to close out the 25-21 win.

Kasper's two timeouts did nothing to stop Gilleland as Rosary made four hitting errors and another net violation on Gilleland's eight serves.

"That's the story of our season so far," said Kasper, whose team lost to St. Charles North 25-22 Saturday in the third game at Plainfield North, missing eight serves in that game.

"We just need to clean up our mistakes."

Rosary never recovered in Game 2, leading just once at 8-7. The Royals committed six hitting errors while Marian made just two.

"A lot of times already this year they have proven they can come back, even against teams like Rosary that are great teams that we always have a hard time with," Marian coach Laura Watling said. "I'm so proud of them to see they stayed confident."

Watling was impressed with Rosary outside hitters Weber and Wegman, who led the Royals with 9 and 5 kills, respectively. Emma Hussey (4 kills, 4 blocks) and Mary Kate Manning (3 kills, 4 blocks) led a balanced Marian attack.

"I remember her (Weber) from last year," Watling said. "She really stood out. She's so dynamic that it was hard for us to block her.

"They rely on their outsides. By the second game we said be ready to take those shots away."