Girls volleyball: Marquette drops opening set, bounces back to top rival Seneca

OTTAWA – Rivalry contests have a way of bringing out the best each team has. Matchups over the years between Marquette Academy and Seneca on the volleyball floor certainly have proved that.

It was true again during Thursday’s Tri-County Conference match at Bader Gym.

The visitors used a couple of short service runs to take the opening set, 25-17, but the hosts responded by using a pair of long serving bursts to take the second set, 25-18, then used a seven-point run early in the third to win, 25-20.

“Our serve receive improved tremendously after the first set on, and we started serving aggressively,” said MA coach Mindy McConnaughhay, her team now 7-3 overall and 2-0 in league play. “We were just serving too soft in the first set, and like I told them going into the second set, I’ll take missed serves if they are aggressive serves.

“We were a little out of sync early, and I really think the great crowds on both sides had something to do with that, it was a loud environment here tonight. We were tight without a doubt, and once we just settled down, we started to play better.

“We had a couple of nice service runs by Maera [Jimenez] and Eva [McCallum] that really helped give us some extra momentum, and our blocking game was huge in the third set. Avery Durdan was a wall tonight, and [Mary] Lechtenberg and Lilly Craig did a good job with that as well.

“Like any other year, this is a match that you can throw out records or who is better than the other. A lot of times who wins this match, it comes down to emotion and who can control theirs better. I think both teams did an all right job with that, and in the end we just made a couple more plays than they did.”

In the deciding third set, Seneca jumped out to a 6-2 lead behind four kills and a block by Sophie Cato. Trailing 7-5, McCallum served up six straight points, including a couple of aces and a combined block by Craig and Durdan, to hold a 12-7 lead. A kill by Durdan and a block by Craig made it 16-10, and although Seneca crept back to within 23-19 on back-to-back aces by Alyssa Zellers, the hosts used kills by Durdan around one by Cato to close out the match.

“The whole style of our play in set one, with the aggressive serves, I felt keep Marquette out of system, which didn’t allow them many swings,” said Seneca coach Noah Champene, his squad now 7-2 and 1-1. “Then I felt in set two we became a little complacent and were maybe playing not to lose instead of staying aggressive. They had McCallum and Jimenez go on a couple of long service runs there in the second, and we just couldn’t get them off the line. Then the third set, we just made too many silly mistakes, and Marquette was able to take advantage of them.

“Although I think both teams struggled in the opening set, I think this was a good, solid match. This was a great experience, a high-level match with both student sections making things loud. Hopefully we will see them again when the conference tournament rolls around.”

In the first set, a four-point run by Callee Bauer and three-point bursts by Kennedy Hartwig and Zellers put the Irish up 18-10. The teams traded points until kills by Leslie Klicker and Neely Hougas gave Seneca the upper hand.

The second set saw Seneca lead 7-2 before a six-point run by Jimenez, a five-point surge by McCallum and a four-point streak by Kaylee Kaufmann put the Cru in the driver’s seat ahead 22-14.

Durdan led MA with nine kills and three blocks, while Kaufmann had eight kills and McCallum five to go along with 12 points and five aces. Jimenez recorded 11 points, three aces and 14 assists, with Killelea passing for 12 more helpers. Kaufmann led the team with 10 digs.

Seneca’s Cato finished with a match-high 10 kills, Zellers with four aces and 15 digs, Bauer with 12 points and Hougas with 18 assists.

Both squads are off until Tuesday when Marquette hosts Somonauk, and Seneca travels to Newark.