St. Edward shakes Westminster challenge
Westminster Christian’s improving girls volleyball team is beginning to close the gap between itself and more-established programs like St. Edward, but the short-handed Green Wave were able to fend off the upstart Warriors to secure a 25-16, 25-20 nonconference victory in Elgin Tuesday.
Visiting Westminster Christian (14-7) trailed by 5 points in the second game only to reel off 6 straight on the serve of sophomore outside hitter Claire Speweik. A kill by junior Taylor Pedersen gave the Warriors their first and only lead of that game, 19-18, and forced St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi to burn a timeout.
“We just weren’t taking care of the ball,” Dovichi said. “We were sitting back waiting for the hard-driven balls to come at us and we weren’t on our toes ready for the mishits or their tips or their rolls, things that we’re going to have to move our feet for.”
St. Edward (17-11), playing without senior setter and captain Katie Ayello, emerged from the timeout better focused and scored 7 of the next 8 points to clinch the sweep. An errant serve and a Westminster Christian net violation handed the lead back to the Wave, and they capitalized with subsequent kills from senior middle Callie Johnson and senior outside hitter Sarah Norman.
“They had their moments of stepping up their intensity and actually playing their game,” Warriors coach Kathy Ramos said of her players, “but when the other team takes the ball back we go flat again. We were struggling to stay in the game and finish it. They’re struggling with their intensity and their fight right now.”
Westminster’s Megan McDonough staved off one match point with a lefty spike, but Norman finalized the victory by pounding a shot off a Westminster defender that caromed out of bounds.
“We fell behind and weren’t really playing our game, so we really had to step it up and start playing better,” said Norman, who had 7 kills and 5 digs. “We realized that and tried to not let them get any more points.”
“I think there was a good chance for us, but we just didn’t pull through,” said Westminster Christian junior hitter Cara Tyrrell, who finished with a team-best 8 kills to go with 3 aces and 5 digs.
St. Edward sophomore setter Mallory Gross played in place of Ayello, who suffered fractures in two fingers while attempting a block at the Huntley Invite on Saturday. Gross held her own against the Warriors, using basic sets to finish with 17 assists.
Ayello will try to play today when St. Edward welcomes Immaculate Conception to Elgin for a Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division match with title implications.
“We’re going to see what we can do (today),” Dovichi said. “IC is kind of a must win for the conference. We’re going to tape (Ayello) up and see how she feels. If not, Mallory did a really nice job (Tuesday) and we’ll just go with high, easy sets.”