St. Edward knocks off Larkin in new 'rivalry' match

St. Edward and Larkin rarely meet on the field or court in a team sport.

Thanks to dropping a tournament and a conference scheduling change, the Green Wave and Royals girls volleyball teams got a chance to play each other Thursday evening.

In front of a lively crowd at St. Edward, the Green Wave defeated Larkin, 25-19, 25-16.

"It was really nice. It was a change of pace from someone who play a lot during the season," said St. Edward junior Sarah Norman, who finished with 4 kills. "It's nice to play local teams too because you can hang out with them and you know lots of people."

Mistakes from Larkin (4-14) early in Game 1 gave the Green Wave (5-13) a 7-1 lead. St. Edward led 14-6 before the Royals scored five consecutive points to get within 3, 14-11. Larkin got as close as 19-18 after a kill from Brianna Stewart, a freshman who led the Royals with 4 kills. The Green Wave then took control and finished off the game, 25-19.

St. Edward jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second game. Larkin again got back into the game, cutting the deficit to just 2, 15-13. The Green Wave led 20-15 and put the game away as Stephanie Igielski had a kill, Kristina Kolodziejczyk had a pair of aces and Anne Kelly had a block to set up match point. On the second match point, Norman put away her fourth kill.

"We're starting to improve and start clickly together now," Norman said. "We're starting to mesh more as a team because some of us haven't played together."

Lexi Smithberg and Jill Casebeer each added 2 kills for the Royals.

"Everyone who has beaten us has given us a lesson. As long as we learn from our mistakes," Larkin coach Marcin Dybka said.

Callie Johnson led the Green Wave with 7 kills. Igielski finished with 4 kills. Kelly added 13 assists. Katie Ayello and Ana Peterson each had 5 digs.

"We travel so far sometimes it's nice to just be able to play close," St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi said. "The kids all know each other so it's fun to play rival schools like that."