Seneca plays huge at the net, dominates Marquette

SENECA – Now the shoe is on the other foot.

In the last high school volleyball season, way back in 2019, Marquette Academy literally was the biggest team in Tri-County Conference volleyball, boasting six seniors at or near 6-feet tall, and that size advantage allowed them to handle the league with relative ease, including Seneca.

But all of those sizable hitters have graduated, and there’s a new biggest, baddest bully on the block – the Fighting Irish – and they showed it Wednesday night.

The Irish, led by 6-2 middle Madi Bromberek, 5-10 Emma Smith and 5-8 Addie Bland, were dominant all night at the net against the now much younger, much shorter but still scrappy Crusaders, to stay unbeaten and atop the conference with a 25-21, 25-16 victory.

Bromberek posted 10 kills, seven of them in the second set, and Bland added eight kills, six of them in opening set, while setter Brooklyn Giertz was spot on with 25 assists, as the Irish lifted their overall record to 10-1 and 6-0 in the TCC. They are one game ahead of Roanoke-Benson, which travels to Seneca on April 14.

“This isn’t turning out to be the ideal season for our seniors, obviously, but the conference [title] is one thing we can still play for, and tonight brings us one step closer to that.”

—  Seneca volleyball coach Noah Champene

For the Crusaders (6-5 overall, 5-4 TCC), Lindsey Kaufmann had seven kills and five digs, Addie McConnaughhay finished with six kills and eight digs, Eva McCallum recorded four kills and five digs and Evelyn Biggins added four kills.

But it was the front line that keyed the Irish revenge.

“We came out ready to play for a game that we’ve been looking forward to after the last season,” Seneca coach Noah Champene said. “They dominated us then, so this was about redemption for us, in a sense, about getting some payback, and we played well in both sets.

“We struggled a little in the passing game at times and kind of pulled Brooklyn off the net here and there, but the hitting was there, and the kills came from several places tonight, Madi, Addie, Emma, Zoe Hougas all stepped up tonight, and Brooklyn was all over the court, as she always is. I was really happy with this performance and the energy we showed on the court tonight.

“This isn’t turning out to be the ideal season for our seniors, obviously, but the conference [title] is one thing we can still play for, and tonight brings us one step closer to that.”

In the opening set, a sideout blast and four service points from Bromberek gave the hosts an early 7-3 lead. Later, a Bland kill and three points (two of them aces) by Addie Olson made it 14-8 before Marquette started back.

Helped by Seneca’s passing struggles, a Kaufmann kill and a Kaylee Killelea point got the visitors to within 16-15 before Kaufmann’s two points later set the deficit at 20-19. A Killelea tip tied the score at 21. However, a Bland slam and three points by Olson gave the Irish the set.

Seneca started the second with a six-point burst by Madi Mino, a margin that soon reached a 14-5 lead on a kill by Hougas. Marquette again rallied, a McConnaughhay burst of three aces and a Biggins kill sliced the SHS lead to 20-15, but a Bromberek sideout kill and three service winners by Taylor Draves put the Irish in the drivers seat.

“I told the girls, ‘Go out and fight, you have nothing to lose, they’re the best in our conference,’ and they showed that they are,” Marquette coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “But we put up a fight, and they should walk out with heads high because they played their butts off tonight.

“I know, this is what we did to other teams last year. Seneca is a very good team, on top of the conference for a reason, but I have absolutely no complaints about how we played tonight. Our blocking got a lot of touches, something I didn’t anticipate, and our defense did a heck of a job. In the second set we got stuck in a serve-receive, and it got ugly, but they battled their way back.

“I’m proud of them for that.”