Girls volleyball: Loyola denies Prospect's smart comeback attempt

Prospect senior Kaeli Myers didn't get to warm up with her teammates for Thursday's nonconference girls volleyball match with visiting Loyola.

But she sure helped them warm up in Set 2.

After missing the opening set due to an academic commitment, Myers arrived in time to put down 3 kills in the second set when Prospect almost sent the match to a third set.

However, Loyola scored the final 4 points to pull out a 25-14, 25-23 win over the Knights at the Jean Walker Field House in Mt. Prospect.

"They made that change in Set 2 (inserting Myers into the match) and that made a difference," said Loyola fifth-year coach Mark Chang. "With her in their back row, that made things challenging for us serving and she also opened up things for them offensively."

"We didn't have Kaeli in the first set but when she got here I was able to switch to the right side," said Knights senior Maggie Porwit who had 4 kills and 4 digs. "Kaela was on the left and that made their middle blocker have to choose who to block, and opened up things more for us in the front row.

"We also played better in the back row. We got a lot of good digs from Valerie Thomas."

The Knights' junior libero, who had 6 digs, also played a key serving role in Set 2.

Prospect was nursing a 20-19 lead when Thomas served a deep bullet just inside the back line for an ace.

Chang called for a time out. Unfazed, Thomas (6 digs, 3 aces) came back with a short floater that dropped for an ace and lifted the Knights to a 22-19 lead.

"Valerie went on a nice service run right when we needed it," Porwit said. "Unfortunately, our passing broke down at the end and we kind of let up because we thought we were going to win."

Prospect's first win came on Tuesday night when it defeated Maine South.

Loyola was playing its first match of the season.

Sophomore Elizabeth Walker led the Ramblers with 5 kills while senior Natasha Borkowski had 4 and Mary Kate Lopez 3.

Lopez, a 6-foot-2 sophomore right side hitter who graduated from St. Raymond in Mt. Prospect, was making her varsity debut in her hometown.

She had a familiar face sitting on the Prospect bench with sophomore Emma Coogan, a St. Raymond graduate. The Knights' Kendra Gancarz (7 digs) and Mary McKenna are also St. Raymond products.

"Oh boy, she's a good player," said Knights coach Laura Gerber of Lopez, whose mother Mary teaches at Schaumburg High School and was a former basketball standout at Benet High School. "It would have been nice if she was here."

"I am really glad she is with us and not Prospect," Chang said. "She is very versatile and doing great things. I thought she did a fantastic job and really helped our team."

Gerber's daughter Paige set the Knights' offense with 14 assists. Helping the Knights on attack were senior Mary Mazurek (4 kills), senior Aly Makuch (2 kills), sophomore Mandy Withey (2 kills) and junior Meghan Meredith (1 kill, 1 block)."

"If we play consistent and as a team, which was absolutely the case in the second set, we'll do just fine," Laura Gerber said. "This was only our second match. So we still have to get the jitters out, and know where we are playing on the floor. The second set we were back to our typical rotation (with Myers) and everyone felt comfortable."