McConnell, St. Viator focus on the present
Kelly McConnell is already St. Viator's all-time leader for career blocks.
On Monday night at Wheeling, the senior middle hitter and her Lions teammates were able to block out their most recent loss at Resurrection and move forward with a 25-13, 25-18 victory.
As the Lions won their 25th match in 35 attempts, McConnell closed to within 1 block of setting the single-season school mark of 70 set by Christine Desmond in 2004.
"That match against Resurrection (a two-game loss) was not good," McConnell said. "We were mad and wanted to come back and get this win. We wanted to make up for that last match."
Setter Carlyn Clevenger (54-for-55, 20 assists) used many different options as the Lions (25-9-1) were able to gradually pull away in each game.
The top attackers for the visitors were senior Emily Leazer (13-of-16, 8 kills), senior Christina Brinkman (18-of-20, 4 kills), senior Kelly Travaglio (5-of-7, 4 kills), McConnell (7-for-9, 3 kills) and senior Mary Calov (8-for-10, 3 kills).
Leazer, the Lions' 2008 MVP, put down the winning kills in both games.
The 5-foot-11 McConnell, added 2 more blocks Monday giving her 163 for her career. Teammates Kelly Travaglio and Clevenger also recorded a pair of blocks.
"Kelly (McConnell) has excellent timing on overpasses," said Lions coach Charlie Curtin. "She is the best blocker I've had in my three seasons. She just has a knack for knowing where the ball is going so she can get a step up on it. She prides herself on blocking. She gets real motivated when she gets one for us."
A kill by Kellie Kuzmanic gave Wheeling a 5-4 lead in Game 1 but the Lions went ahead for good at 8-7. Then they received 8 straight service points from senior libero Stephanie Rountree (10-for-11, 2 aces) for a 16-7 cushion.
In Game 2, Lauren Bunda (10-for-10) served 3 straight points for a 7-3 lead and Viator never looked back.
"We cleared up a lot of things in practice (following the Resurrection match)," Curtin said. "The girls just came out ready to play."
St. Viator will play at St. Joseph today while coach Jason Kopkowski takes his Wildcats (9-25) to Hoffman Estates.
"We need to work on our finishing skills," said Wildcats senior Bianca Szafarowicz. "We have things to work on and hopefully we'll get it together for the state playoffs."