Ottawa volleyball hangs tough but eventually falls at Morris

MORRIS – Both coaches agreed it wasn’t the prettiest match Monday night when Interstate Eight Conference volleyball rivals Morris and Ottawa took the court.

When the dust settled, Morris defeated Ottawa 29-27, 25-17 to improve its record to 12-1 overall and 8-1 in the I-8, with a match against Kaneland, the only team to hand the Redskins a loss, on deck Tuesday.

Ottawa, meanwhile, slipped to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in league play.

“We kind of undid ourselves at the end of the first set,” Ottawa coach Jen Crum said. “We are a young team, and we have to play these tough matches. We need to learn how to finish when we are ahead, and that is going to take time.”

Ottawa stormed out of the gate early, running out to a 9-3 lead before Morris coach Scott Howell called a timeout. Only two of the Ottawa points had come via a kill, as Morris made some uncharacteristic unforced errors.

The Redskins regrouped a bit, though the Ottawa lead reached 15-8 after two kills by Piper Nanouski, an ace by Lily Miller, and a block by Nanouski and Melana Pries. Morris then began to chip away at the lead, eventually tying it at 22. Jaelyn Wiers had back-to-back kills to help spark the 14-7 Redskin run, while Kennedy Dransfeldt had two kills, and Alyssa Schultz and Jada Less each served an ace.

Ottawa took a 23-22 lead before Dransfeldt tied it back up with one of her match-high 13 kills. Morris grabbed a 24-23 lead on an Ottawa hitting error, but a kill by Ottawa’s McKenzie Oslanzi tied it at 24. There were ties at 25, 26, and 27 before Morris got a point on an Ottawa lift violation, then won the set on a back-row kill from Dransfeldt.

“It wasn’t our prettiest match, that’s for sure,” Howell said. “With softball starting up, our girls haven’t played any volleyball since Thursday. We gave the girls all weekend off and they were a little rusty. Probably 75% of our players also play softball, and they had softball practice at 5:30 this morning, so they were tired.

“I hope we got this out of our system, because it’s going to be a tough match at Kaneland.”

Morris took control early in the second game, getting two kills from Dransfeldt as well as a kill and two aces from Kaylie Adams to grab an 8-3 lead. The Morris edge stretched to 18-10 before Ottawa scored three straight points, highlighted by a stuff block by Pries and an ace by Ryleigh Stevenson. Morris countered with three straight points, including an ace by Katherine Halcomb, to move ahead, 22-13. Morris held a 24-16 lead before Nanouski delivered her team-high fifth kill for Ottawa, then Dransfeldt ended it with a kill.

“We gave away a lot of points tonight,” Howell said. “Ottawa had a game plan of making Kennedy and Kaylie play defense, and it took us a little while to adjust. Jaelyn Wiers had some nice kills for us, and Alyssa Schultz had some big serves.”

Nanouski had five kills and five digs to lead Ottawa, while Stevenson had three kills and two aces. Pries had two blocks and two assists, while Reese Burgwald had seven digs. Lily Miller had nine assists and four digs.