Girls volleyball: Prospect handles St. Viator
On one particular rally in the second set, Mia Farraday produced two terrific digs and put up a set that nearly led to a point.
Later in the set, it was her 4 straight service points that helped spark Prospect's girls volleyball team.
Her back-to-back aces gave the Knights a 23-22 lead over St. Viator.
When asked what she enjoys most, the 5-foot-6 senior libero said, "nothing's better than a good dig."
For Prospect, nothing was better than getting its first win of the season on Thursday night in its own Jean Walker Field House.
Senior Grace Cacini put down 7 kills and classmate Annie Wiley added 5 as the Knights held off a young St. Viator squad 25-17, 25-23 in the nonconference match.
After losses to Wheaton Warrenville South and Maine South, the Knights (1-2) found the winner's circle against a Viator team (1-2) that defeated Rolling Meadows in two sets two nights earlier.
"When we saw they beat Rolling Meadows, we knew we were facing a good team," said Cacini, who had 4 big kills down the stretch of the second set. "This was a tough match for us. We gave them a few too many points in that second set but coming back represented how much we wanted the win. This definitely sets us up with confidence for next week."
Viator led 14-11 and 15-12 in the second set.
But Prospect pulled even at 18-18 on a service point from Wiley. Viator went ahead 22-20 on a service point from Erin Aldana.
That's when Farraday served her 4 points and 2 aces to give her team a 24-22 lead.
"It's always great to get that first win at home," Farraday said. "I just wanted to make sure I got the serves in but at the same time was smart and aggressive."
A kill by senior Vicky Gorney got Viator to within 24-23 before setter Sarah Skaggs assisted on Wiley's second straight kill to end the match.
"Sarah had some amazing sets," said Prospect coach Laura Gerber. "Our passing was a little off but Sarah did a really good job getting the ball to the hitters."
Leading the Lions' offense were Vicky Gorney (8 kills) and sophomore Marie Torosian (5). Sophomore Lilly LaFleur and freshman Marcelina Gorney each added two.
In all, Lions coach Charlie Curtin's eight-player starting rotation included four sophomores and two freshmen.
His 6-2 offense was run by Aldana (14 assists), senior Katherine Drab (3) and sophomore Cailyn Harrington (3 assists).
Freshman libero Reanne Valera collected 25 digs.
"She (Valera) covers the court well," Curtin said. "She serves extremely aggressively. She is someone we love having on the team and she has been able to help us out defensively. She gets a lot of balls that we don't necessarily assume we're going to get."
It is Curtin's youngest team in 13 seasons.
"We're inconsistent and up and down at times," he said. "We just need to get some varsity experience under our belt. Once we do, I think we're going to have a lot of fun the next couple of years."