Girls volleyball: Marquette Academy wins defensive battle over Putnam County

GRANVILLE – It was pretty obvious after watching the Marquette Academy and Putnam County girls volleyball teams trade the first two dozen points in the opening set of Thursday night’s Tri-County Conference match that both sides were going to have to earn everything they got.

The first set saw neither team record more than two straight points, while the second set featured a few small runs.

In the end, Marquette was able to earn a 25-19, 25-20 victory over the Panthers at R.M. Germano Gymnasium to improve to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in league play. Putnam County falls to 7-4 and 2-1.

[ Photos: Marquette vs Putnam County volleyball ]

“I thought it was a very scrappy match on both sides tonight,” Marquette Academy coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “There really wasn’t a spot on the floor that either team was able go to more than once in a row because both teams really made adjustments on the fly. I thought we did a job at the net defensively, we were getting a lot of touches, and when you can do that, it gives your back-line players just that extra second to react.”

The Crusaders were led by eight kills from Maera Jimenez, with Avery Durdan adding four, Lilly Craig three, and Makayla Backos, Mary Lechtenberg, and Anna Hjerpe two each, while Kealey Rick had 12 assists and Jimenez eight. Marquette was paced in digs by Emma Rinearson (seven), Maisie Lyons (six), and Nora Rinearson (five), while Craig posted a pair of blocks.

“We’ve had some times lately where when a couple of things don’t go our way we’ve been letting it snowball, but tonight all the girls stayed strong and fought through anything and everything.”

—  Mindy McConnaughhay, Marquette Academy volleyball coach

“We really wanted to make sure tonight we stayed positive from start to finish,” McConnaughhay said. “We’ve had some times lately where when a couple of things don’t go our way we’ve been letting it snowball, but tonight all the girls stayed strong and fought through anything and everything. We knew Putnam County would be tough – they always are, and especially on their home floor.

“I feel that we played an overall solid all-around match tonight. This was a good win for us, not just being it conference, but also against a very solid opponent that was all over the court tonight.”

In the first set, Marquette held a 20-16 lead after a thunderous kill in the middle by PC’s Maggie Richetta, but a Panthers hitting error and an ace by Backos pushed the lead to six. From there an ace and kill by Emma Rinearson closed out the set.

In the second set, a four-point burst by Jimenez, including two aces, and a block from Craig and kill from Durdan had MA up 12-7. The lead was still five at 17-12 before another booming sideout kill by Richetta preceded her four-point serving run, which included a winning swing from Maggie Spratt to tie the score.

Marquette used a Jimenez kill to stop the run, then scored seven of the final 10 points, including a pair of kills by Backos, the second on match point.

Richetta finished with five kills, nine service points and 14 digs to lead the Panthers. Spratt had four kills, Ava Hatton two kills and an ace, setter Megan Wasilewski 12 assists and Avery Moutray 10 digs.

“Marquette played really good defense tonight,” Putnam County coach Amy Bell said. “They put up a big block, and especially in that first set, there were many open spots to try and hit the ball into. I felt like in the second set we did a better job of challenging their hitters and on the flip side did a better job of attacking at the net. I thought we played some solid defense to and passed well, but Marquette was just able to find open spots at the key moments.

“We also have Megan at setter, and that’s not a spot she played last season as a junior, so we are just still trying to get our offense to totally click with her. There is a ton of potential there, so it’s just a matter of everyone settling it and keep working on the things we need to.”

Marquette hosts Indian Creek on Monday, and Putnam County travels to play Hall on Tuesday.