MORRIS – Big hitting has been key to the early success of the Morris High School volleyball team so far this season.
Once again that aggressive style of attack proved to be the linchpin during Morris’ 25-21, 25-23 Interstate Eight Conference victory over La Salle-Peru on Thursday evening.
Morris (9-3, 2-0 IEC) received a very balanced effort at the net as seniors Natalie Lawton, Ava Smith and Hanna Lauterbach pounded down eight kills apiece, while junior Aubre Phillips rifled home six winners despite 18 hitting miscues throughout the proceedings for the home team.
“It’s been really exciting so far this year getting off to such a great start, and being so aggressive as we’ve been hitting has paid off,” Lawton said. “Tonight wasn’t our best night. But our energy was very good, and it’s rewarding to see all of that aggressiveness turn into wins like it has so far.”
Lawton and Smith also posted nine digs apiece, while junior setters Hayley Dunne and Mia Olvera deftly placed 14 and 13 assists respectively, and senior libero Kayla Jepson popped up a match-best 14 digs to help pace the victors.
“It’s definitely the way you want to start off a season, with nine wins and two consecutive victories this week in conference,” Morris coach Scott Howell said. “To start 1-0 versus a tough conference opponent in Sycamore on Tuesday, and then to beat another solid league team from L-P tonight with another aggressive hitting approach really gives us a lot of confidence moving forward. We’ll take the win even though I don’t think we played our best. But we just kept swinging hard, and it paid off in a big way again with more kills than errors.”
L-P (5-5, 0-2) received team bests’ of six kills from senior Camryn Piscia, ten digs off the hands of senior Taylor Martyn, ten points via the serve of senior Brooklyn Ficek, and six assists from junior Addison Urbanski. But it wasn’t enough to counter the high-flying attack of Morris.
“Both teams played well tonight,” L-P coach Mark Haberkon said. “We just couldn’t get anything going to carry us through the end of both sets.”
During a tight opening set and the game tied 13-13, Smith hammered down two left-side winners along with Lawton’s right-side dagger that helped put Morris up 17-13.
The Cavaliers came back to tie the score at 17-17 after a middle kill from Piscia.
But Morris ended the set on an 8-4 run where Lawton, Lauterbach and Phillips all produced two kills apiece, with Lawton giving Morris a 24-21 lead off a middle laser-beam winner before serving the first game out in style on set point.
“It was nerve-racking to be in the position to get that kill and know I was serving for the first set,” Lawton said. “But I kept a clear mindset on my serve and we were able to gain the early advantage.”
Just like in the opening game, the second set proved to be a huge battle.
With the score knotted at 10-10, Morris went ahead by a point off a middle kill by Phillips, and then 18-14 after a tip kill from Phillips into an open court.
But L-P rallied with a 9-5 run after a key winner from Piscia that tied things up at 23 apiece.
Howell then took a much needed timeout that steadied his troops in order to close out the match.
Smith added a left-side kill to put Morris ahead 24-23 before the Cavs suffered a hitting error on match point.
“We really have worked together well so far this season, and we did again tonight,” Lauterbach said. “I think we’re a great hitting team with many people who can get the job done. We want to be conference champs this season, and after this match, we’re off to a solid start toward accomplishing that goal.”