Girls volleyball: Harvest Christian sends its fans home happy
The biggest assist for the Harvest Christian girls volleyball team Monday night may have come from its fans.
A large traveling contingent wearing white and waving white towels, with chanting that created a loud, basketball tournament environment, the Lions' faithful practically willed their team to a 25-18, 25-17 victory over DePaul Prep in a Class 2A sectional semifinal Monday at Guerin Prep.
The end result will be a date with IC Catholic Prep in the sectional final at 6 p.m. Wednesday, again at Guerin Prep. The Knights defeated Holy Trinity 25-8, 25-10 in the first sectional semifinal Monday.
"They just motivate us," said senior Jimena Montano, who led Harvest Christian (25-12) with 13 kills. "To have support from our community of a school, it elevates our whole spirit."
Added freshman Addison Nava, who added 5 kills: "I definitely feel like it makes you want to win so much more because you want to win for all the people who came out to support you."
The Lions needed every bit of volume their fans could muster Monday against a tough-as-nails DePaul Prep team that finished its season 18-7.
In the first set, the Rams held a slim 14-13 lead before Lions junior Zoe Pawelek stepped to the service line. In a blink of an eye, Harvest Christian was up 16-14, which prompted a DePaul Prep timeout.
Didn't matter. Pawelek took the set to 17-15 before a tip kill by DePaul Prep freshman Emily Weber. An unforced error gave the sideout to the Lions and junior Madison Pfister, who increased the score to 20-16.
Moments later, senior Kaitlyn Murray got in on the fun, leveraging an ace and a huge block by Montano and sophomore Maya Jenkins to give the Lions a 24-16 advantage. Jenkins finished the set with a kill.
The second set was almost a mirror image of the first, with the teams trading points until the Lions pulled ahead for good with a monster block by Nava, who then went to the service line and won the set, and match, with consecutive kills by Pfister and freshman Hayley Martin.
The performance both on and off the court impressed Harvest Christian coach Mike Bui.
"I think today's theme was whiteout, and our fans here do a great job of supporting us," Bui said. "Our kids play so well for our fans. Our fans, they get so much credit. They're loud, and we're a young team. We start two freshmen and a sophomore and they get rattled from time to time, but the crowd keeps them calm for some reason."
Pfister led the Lions with 10 digs, while Martin paced the team with 21 assists. Pawelek checked in with 4 aces.