Area Roundup: Newark-Seneca boys soccer falls to top-seeded Mendota in Class 1A regional semifinal

SERENA – The Newark-Seneca boys soccer team trailed top-seeded and unbeaten Mendota 1-0 at halftime of Tuesday’s Class 1A regional semifinal.

The Trojans took a two-goal lead midway through the second half before Norsemen senior Angel Fernandez scored off a corner kick by Colin Collet with about 17 minutes to play. From there, Mendota (20-0) scored about eight minutes left to advance with a 3-1 triumph.

Newark-Seneca finished the season 9-10-2.

“I just told the kids before the game to just play like they have been playing,” N-S coach Henry Cheung said. “If you look at or scores this season, we always have played very good against good teams and given them a little trouble. We didn’t change anything formation-wise, we just played tough. Mendota just kept attacking and we did a pretty good job of trying to fight them off, but that has been the case for this team the last two years. This is a very tough, young team, and they never give up.”

— Read Brian Hoxsey’s full game story at mywebtimes.com.

Girls tennis

Streator 2, St. Bede 2: At La Salle, the visiting Bulldogs dropped both singles matches but won both doubles matches – victories coming from Syria Zuniga and Charlee Bourell, 6-6 (5), 6-4, at No. 1 and the duo of Ebony Pickens and Brianna Janke, 7-5, 1-6, 10-8, at No. 2.

Girls volleyball

Manteno def. Streator, 25-9, 25-14: At Manteno, the Bulldogs dropped the Illinois Central Eight match in straight sets.

Streator was led by four kills from Alexa Jacobs and three from Mallory Goerne, while Rilee Talty had eight digs and Emma Graves four digs.

Earlville def. DePue, 25-6, 25-9: At DePue, the Red Raiders (18-5, 7-1) rolled to the Little Ten Conference victory.

Earlville was led by Brynn Guelde (three kills, four aces), Nevaeh Sansone (three kills), Emma Benson (13 assists) and Elizabeth Browder (two blocks).

Somonauk def. Hiawatha, 25-23, 23-25, 25-17: At Somonauk, Ame Grace’s 13-point serving streak in the third set keyed the Bobcats (7-12, 4-4) to the LTC win.

Grace finished with 10 aces, five kills and 25 digs for Somonauk, while Maggie Roberts provided nine winning swings. Aubrey Westbrook posted 27 digs, Riley Snider 12 assists and 15 digs and Whitney Andrews five aces and 11 assists.

Newark def. IMSA, 25-13, 25-19: At Aurora, the Norsemen (21-5, 8-1) topped the Titans in straight sets in the LTC victory.

Megan Williams led Newark with nine kills, Lauren Ulrich passed for 16 assists, and Taylor Kruser posted nine digs.

LeRoy def. Flanagan-Cornell, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18: At Flanagan, the Falcons (9-18, 2-9) dropped the final two sets in the Heart of Illinois Conference loss.

FCHS was led by Aniya Maxon (eight kills, two aces, 11 digs ). Also, Lilia Mascote (10 digs), Page McDonald (two blocks, three kills), Hattie Koeller (three kills), Grace Zimmerman (seven kills,) Kortney Harms (13 assists, eight kills, 15 digs), Kalynne Kindermann (16 digs) and Reagan Montello (10 assists) contributed to the cause.

Morris def. Sandwich, 25-12, 25-17: At Sandwich, the Indians (11-16, 3-8) fell in the Interstate Eight Conference match, led by Alexis Sexton (13 assists, five digs), Claire Allen (four kills), Audrey Rome (eight kills) and Breanna Sexton (10 digs).

JV girls volleyball

Streator def. Manteno, 19-25, 25-21, 25-21: At Manteno, the Bullpups bounced back after dropping the opening set to win the final two. Streator was paced by Zuzu Gonzalez (11 kills, six assists and three digs), Emma Rambo (three kills, two blocks, 15 assists and five digs) and Rilee Talty (19 digs, two kills and an ace)