Volleyball: St. Bede overcomes lineup error to win at Bureau Valley

MANLIUS - St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich wrote down No. 21 for her cousin, Ali Bosnich, in the Bruins’ lineup Tuesday at the Storm Cellar, because, well all the Bosniches wear number 21.

All of them except Ali who wears No. 23.

The St. Bede senior striker had to sit out to start the first game due to the lineup error, and the Bruins played out of sync, falling to host Bureau Valley, 25-14.

With the lineup corrected, the Bruins (3-5-1) cruised to 25-16 and 25-11 wins to take the victory over their former Three Rivers rival.

“Every Bosnich who has played for me is 21. I thought about it when I wrote it down, ‘Ali’s No. 21, got it.’ Didn’t think twice about it,” coach Bosnich said. “And he read the starters, and I thought, ‘I don’t know why Ali’s not starting. Then it dawned on me, she’s not 21. That’s Johnna (Bogatitus). I thought the girls did a really good job adjusting that, but it was completely my fault.

“I thought the girls did OK, but we were definitely out of sync. Ali is by far our top hitter and blocker and I took her out of the game to start.”

Coach Bosnich said she joked during the timeout that it was Ali’s fault, “because she’s not No. 21.”

The lineup error had girls playing out of position in the first set, but Ali Bosnich (six kills, two blocks) said it was nothing the Bruins couldn’t overcome.

“We’ve been doing a good job adapting because the first (set) was a little hard,” she said. “The lineup we were supposed to have was different. When the second and third set came, we were ready and excited and were comfortable where we were at.

“We had to start to scratch, take a breather and start over.”

Senior libero Ella Hermes (20 digs, four aces) got the Bruins going with a pair of aces to give them a 15-10 lead in Game 2. Ali Bosnich made her presence known with two kills to help St. Bede gain a 21-13 lead.

McKinley Kruger momentarily cooled off the Bruins with two kills to pull the Storm within 21-15. Setter Aubree Acuncuis and Ashlyn Ehm teamed up for a block and Ehm added a push to send the Bruins on to a 25-16 win.

Acuncuis took things into her own hands in Game 3 by ripping off 10 straight points, including three aces to send the Bruins to a 21-6 lead on a deep kill by Reagan Stoudt.

“Aubrey was great. A lot of people have games where their serving game is on top and today it was Aubrey,” Ali Bosnich said.

Coach Bosnich said Acuncius has been making up for lost time this year after missing last year with a broken foot.

“It was hard not being able to play last season and it took her a while to find her groove and find her place, because the girls had that full year of varsity experience,” she said. “It’s nice to have her in the back of the service rotation and not the front, because I think people think our good servers are passed and then she comes through.”

Storm errors led to the final points to seal the match for the Bruins.

Stoudt, Ehm, Bogatitus and Bella Pinter each knocked down four kills for the Bruins. Other leaders on the night included Acuncius (two blocks, four aces, five digs) and Sadie Koehler (10 digs).

Ali Bosnich said the team the match meant a lot for coach Bosnich, who was the head coach at BV from 2012-16.

“Every time we go to BV, go to Princeton we know the rivalry. L-P is like our thing, so every time we know the rivalry, we make it out for some one and this one we definitely made it out for Coach Bos,” she said.

St. Bede fell behind 7-1 to start the first set, but battled back to tie it at 9-all. Taylor Neuhalfen hit for two kills and Mattie Michlig served up an ace to push the Storm to a 15-11 edge. Lesleigh Maynard finished off the 25-14 Storm with four straight aces.

Emma Stabler led the Storm with eight kills and two blocks and added nine digs. Setter Kate Salisbury dished out 19 assists to go with four kills and four points. Maynard finished with 10 points including four aces and 22 digs and Canady added five kills

Also for BV, Michlig had four kills, Kate Stoller had five digs and Taylor Neuhalfen had seven points.

Barnett said the Storm have to learn to put teams away.

“We’re a three-game kind of team. We’ve got to figure out how we can win in two and go home. That’s a big struggle right now.,” she said. “The girls are aware of it. The tournament (at Rock Falls) we were in this weekend, it was the same thing. We’ve just got overcome the hump that we are on because the potential is there.

“Anybody who has been at the Storm Cellar watching us has seen the potential. It’s just if we can execute it for two full games.”