Girls volleyball: Larkin puts away Elgin

Larkin led Elgin for most of their match Tuesday, but the Royals could never quite put the Maroons away.

But in the end, Larkin held on for a 25-21, 25-21 girls volleyball victory in Upstate Eight River action in Elgin.

Natalie Kofie had 3 kills, 22 assists, 2 aces, 4 blocks and 9 digs to lead the Royals (8-10, 2-1). April McGhee added 7 kills, 7 digs, and a block.

Kylie Graves had 4 kills and 6 digs for Elgin (11-11, 0-3).

The Royals jumped out to early leads in both sets. Several times they looked poised to pull away, but the Maroons fought back, aided by some sloppy play by Larkin.

Larkin led 14-9 in the first set, but the Maroons answered with a 5-1 run to get within a point. A kill by Kayla Armour got Larkin a sideout. Mackenzie Malone served an ace and Mallory Boulton got a kill to extend the advantage to 18-14 and the teams basically traded points from there.

In the second set, an 8-1 run put the Royals ahead 13-7, but the Maroons battled back to get within 15-12 before the Royals regained control.

"It's frustrating as a coach, but you understand it with a crosstown rivalry," said Larkin coach Henry Graack of the Royals' inability to put sets away. "We should have taken more control in my opinion, but a couple of missed serves in bad spots, a couple of mishits in bad spots when we started to pull away stopped us from doing that. But overall, I'm pretty happy."

The Royals came out a little edgy before finally settling down.

"It was hard to turn our nerves into energy but we finally did that after the first game," said Kofie. "It was our last Larkin-Elgin game, and there were so many people there."

It was a tough loss for Elgin.

"I just didn't think our energy and our intensity were there," said Maroons' coach Scott Stewart. "But the good thing is, we've got another game this week, Thursday night, and I think we'll get back on track."

Boulton, Armour, and Nicole Alm had 5 kills apiece for Larkin.

Karen Aguirre had 7 digs for Elgin. Sofia Mari added 4 digs, 4 assists, and a kill. Skylar Deueul had 2 digs and 4 assists, while Sarah Brandes contributed 2 kills and 3 blocks.