‘So much fun’: L-P beats St. Bede in raucous match between rivals

PERU – The stands at St. Bede’s Abbot Vincent Gymnasium were packed.

One student section clad in white and the other dressed in sports uniforms traded barbs back and forth and raucously cheered for every point.

An official said it was the loudest gym she’s been in.

And that was after the sophomore match.

The fans were pumped up for a historic night as La Salle-Peru and St. Bede met on the volleyball court for the first time anyone could remember.

“It was great to finally play because it’s a rivalry,” L-P junior Addison Urbanski said. “It was just so much fun.

“[The atmosphere] was awesome. Everyone came out, and it was just so much fun. On the court, it’s fun to see the stands erupt. It’s just so exciting.”

The visiting Cavaliers gave their fans plenty to cheer about as they picked up a 25-9, 25-17 victory.

“I think we played very aggressive at the net,” Urbanski said. “Our blocking was great. Our defense was great. Our tipping and everything was just fantastic.”

The Cavs raced out to a 7-1 lead in the first set – starting with a big kill in the middle by Camryn Piscia followed by an ace from Katie Sowers and a kill by Addie Duttlinger and St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich called a timeout.

“We blocked well all night,” said L-P coach Mark Haberkorn, who began coaching L-P in 1988 and said he doesn’t remember ever playing St. Bede. “I thought we got the advantage early with our blocking, and it seemed to continue on with the rest of our game. We passed well. We set well. We hit well. The first set everything went out way.”

But L-P continued to push the lead, extending it to 16-5 before Bosnich called her second timeout.

St. Bede scored four more points on two L-P hitting errors, a service error and a kill by Emily Robbins before L-P closed out the set with a kill by Piscia and a St. Bede error.

L-P started the second set with a kill by Jayden Dyke for a sideout before Taylor Martyn rattled off six consecutive points – a run that included three straight kills by Emma Garretson – to give the Cavs a 7-0 lead.

L-P pushed the lead to 9-1 before a service error, back-to-back hitting errors and an ace by Ariella Mudge allowed the Bruins to climb back into it.

Mudge served St. Bede (3-6) within 9-7 and the set stayed within five points before L-P extended it late.

“I think the important part is just being mentally tough and continuing to work hard and get better every day and we’ve really been working on that,” St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich said about the rally. “I think we’re definitely improving, and we’ll continue to improve as the season goes on.”

A kill by Piscia, back-to-back errors by St. Bede and a kill by Urbanski pushed L-P’s lead to 22-14 before the match eventually ended on a Bruins service error.

“I think we just exhaled,” Urbanski said about how the Bruins got back in it. “We got it back by reassuring each other and going back to that aggressive mentality and just getting back into it.”

The varsity match capped an exciting night of volleyball as the L-P freshman won 23-25, 25-7, 15-9 and the L-P sophomores pulled out a thriller that featured two sets going to extra points at 32-34, 25-18, 19-17.

“What a fun atmosphere and opportunity for all the kids to be able to play in,” Bosnich said. “The freshmen and sophomores went three games. They were very tight. The varsity fought back in the second set. To have that type of atmosphere is something that we don’t see a lot in volleyball, so having that was a lot of fun.”

Haberkorn said the match was scheduled after L-P had an opponent drop from then schedule late in the spring.

The rivals will play next season at L-P.

“It was a great crowd on both sides,” Haberkorn said. “We’d like to see a volleyball match have this enthusiasm and crowd every time we play. This was fantastic for the girls, for the program and for the sport.”

For L-P (5-4), Urbanski had eight assists, four blocks and three kills, Garretson had four kills and five digs, Piscia put down four kills and had two blocks and Taylor Martyn had 13 points and nine digs.