Girls volleyball: Wethersfield tips its way to title past Putnam County

GRANVILLE – Kewanee Wethersfield tiptoed its way to the Class 1A Putnam County Regional volleyball championship Thursday night at RM Germano Gymnasium.

Struggling to hit through the Putnam County defense, the Flying Geese instead went over it with perfectly placed tips, scoring six of seven points to rally for a 22-19 lead in the second set.

Wethersfield went on to take the match 25-16, 25-20 to claim its second straight regional title.

“Yep, tip the ball where they’re not going to get it. It’s a smart play,” longtime Wethersfield coach Tonya Vincent said. “We knew they had a big block, so we knew we had to get up high over the block. Some of our balls were going out of bounds. So we said, ‘Hey, let’s tip it where they’re not.’ And it worked.

“It doesn’t always have to be a smash kill. A kill’s a kill, no matter how it gets to the ground.”

After dropping the first set and falling behind 5-2 in the second, the Panthers battled their way back into the match.

PC (22-13-2), which saw its season begin and end with a loss to Wethersfield, scored nine straight points to take a 11-5 lead. A couple of hammer shots by senior Maggie Richetta kept the Panthers in front 18-14.

That’s when the Flying Geese went to their tip game.

Kendall Vincent had three tips and a kill to cap the Geese’s 8-1 run, while Sophie Nimrick added two tips and Lajaya Angel one.

PC senior Ava Hatton halted Wethersfield’s run momentarily with a kill shot off the hands of the Geese. After scoring on a push, Angel went back to a tip to send the Geese flying off to the sectional.

“They definitely beat us on some good tips tonight. They hit some holes in our defense. We just couldn’t cover that. And then they also know how to swing and hammer the ball. Unfortunately, it was their night and not ours,” PC coach Amy Bell said.

“We had a great season and just a class act of girls that really fought hard to the end every night.”

The Panthers also battled their way back into the opening set after falling behind 6-2, 11-6 and 14-10. Richetta and Hatton teamed up for a block to pull within 14-13, and Richetta hit for a kill to keep it close at 15-14. Angel pushed for a sideout to get the Geese rolling on a 6-0 run on the way to a 25-16 win.

Richetta, who recently recorded her 750th career kill, went down swinging in her final game in PC Black and Gold, racking up eight kills with some hard swinging.

“Maggie swung and swung and did an awesome job,” Bell said. “Megan [Wasilewski] ran a great offense with her. When [Maggie] was swinging, I’m not sure what ball didn’t hit the floor.”

“No. 24 [Richetta] is amazing. We kind of figured her out. She still hammered away, but we knew we needed to cover short there on her,” coach Vincent said. “Cora Hodge did a great job digging up some balls, and we were able to get a couple blocks, and I think that got them a little stressed.”

Wasilewski finished with 16 assists and a team-high 12 digs for PC. Avery Moutry had 11 points and 10 digs, and Hatton added four kills and nine digs.

The Flying Geese (26-6-1) advance to the Princeville Sectional to face No. 1 Glasford Illini Bluffs at 6 p.m. Monday. The Tigers defeated Brimfield 25-18, 25-17 at the Peoria Heights Regional.

“Winning a regional is always a goal. We want to win a regional, and they played well, and our girls got after it,” coach Vincent said. “When you can beat a team on their home court, that’s even tougher. They had a great student fan base. I love their coach. I think she does a great job.”