Girls volleyball: Kaneland completes undefeated conference season
LA SALLE - During the 2019 season, the Kaneland volleyball team lost twice to La Salle-Peru and finished second in the Interstate Eight Conference.
That gave the Knights a little extra motivation entering Thursday's season finale.
Kaneland swept the Cavaliers 25-13, 25-13 for its second win over L-P this season to cap off a 14-0 record in the conference.
"It feels good," Kaneland coach Cyndi Violett said. "Losing to L-P twice last year and finishing second, I think they were ready to play tonight to make sure they were undefeated. That was their whole goal for tonight."
The Knights, who finished 15-1 overall, were presented a conference championship plaque after the match, and they lingered on the court taking photos and celebrating.
"It was so awesome to be able to have a season in the first place, and for us to go undefeated is so awesome," Kaneland junior Maddie Buckley said. "We've improved so much in such little time. I can't even imagine if we had a full season how far we would have gone."
The Cavs hung tough early in the first set.
Olivia Shetterly had a kill and a block around a Kaneland error to give L-P a 7-4 lead.
The Knights rallied to tie the set at 8 before starting to take control as Buckley put down back-to-back kills followed by a block for a 13-10 lead.
"Kaneland played very well," L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. "We played well for the first half of the first set then we had trouble with serve receive. That was the turning point in set one. In set two, they just got out to an early lead.
"We played hard all night. We had good effort all night. Sometimes, it doesn't always end the way you want it to. I don't fault the effort of the competitive spirit of the girls. We battled them all the way."
Up 13-12, Buckley put down a kill to give the serve to Mia Kane. The sophomore rattled off 10 consecutive points as the Knights built a 24-12 lead.
"We were practicing our tips and finding holes in their defense," Violett said. "Then I just told them to be aggressive and start pounding away. I think that was a huge difference. And aggressive serving from Mia Kane was huge."
Meghan O'Sullivan finished the first set with a kill.
"We cleaned up stuff short in the middle of the court," Buckley said about how Kaneland pulled away. "We were a lot smarter with where we were going to place the ball on the other side of the net. That helped us so much."
The Knights scored the first three points of the second set and led the whole way.
Buckley had nine kills, four blocks and three aces for Kaneland, while O'Sullivan had five kills and a pair of aces.
"Our serve receive was a lot better this match," Violett said. "We struggled with serve receive Tuesday against Sycamore. We practiced that. Our defense was able to pick things up and pick up tips. We knew they were going to tip us a lot and we were ready for that."
The Knights graduate Emalee Wiley, Sammie Abruzzo, Olivia Burtell, Bailey Lomahan, Sabrina Moses and Jordan Weber.
"I'm really proud of the girls," Violett said. "I'm sad to see the seniors leave. They've been leaders. These girls have a great atmosphere with each other - no cliques or issues going on. I think that has a lot to do with my seniors."
Taylor Martyn had six points and five digs for L-P, while Aubrey Garretson, Ashley Urbanski and Shetterly had three kills each.
The Cavs finished 10-11 overall, snapping a streak of 32 consecutive winning seasons, and 7-7 in the conference.
L-P graduates Garretson, Kenzie DeFosse, Ashley Urbanski, Ella Thompson and Jaidynne Lash.
"We finished third in the conference. That's a big accomplishment for us," Haberkorn said. "We started slow. We lost a lot of matches early, but on the second round of the conference, we beat all except Morris and Kaneland. We improved a lot from start to finish. I'm very proud of the way this team played all year. A lot of that credit goes to the leadership of our seniors. We're going to miss all five seniors. They were a major part of the program the last four years."