Girls volleyball: Newark, host St. Bede to meet for regional title

PERU – After the dust settled at Wednesday’s Class 1A St. Bede Regional semifinals, it will be the top-seeded Newark girls volleyball team taking on the No. 12-seeded and host Bruins for the championship at 6 p.m. Thursday.

In the night’s opener, the Norsemen dropped the first set to an aggressive and confidence-filled Putnam County squad, but then scored the final two points of the second set to push the match to a winner-take-all third.

From there, Newark jumped out to an early lead before keeping the Panthers at arm’s length the rest of the way in a 23-25, 26-24, 25-15 triumph.

In the second match at Abbot Vincent Gymnasium, St. Bede rode solid starts in each set to advance with a 25-19, 25-17 victory over Henry-Senachwine.

Putnam County (18-14-4) used key kills from Avery Moutray and Maggie Richetta in the late stages of the back-and-forth opening set to grab the advantage. The Panthers then clawed back from a six-point deficit in the second set to tie the score at 24, but Newark received a kill and block from Lauren Ulrich to send the match to a third set.

Ulrich then served the first seven points as Newark held leads of 13-1 and 21-9 before PC closed to within 22-15.

Kiara Wesseh paced Newark (31-5) with 15 kills, Ulrich (six aces) added 14 and Bre Dixon had six.

“Putnam County is a very scrappy team with good servers and solid serve receive,” Newark coach P.J. McKinney said. “[PC] did a great job of using tips and putting them into spaces we just couldn’t get to ... we seemed just a step slow at times. I thought we did a good job of bouncing back after the opening set and Lauren had a nice service run midway through the second set to get us going a little. I think that gave us a chance to catch our breath a little and get things back on track. There were a lot of nerves tonight, for sure.

“We are in the survive-and-advance time of the year.”

Putnam County was led by nine kills from Richetta (six aces), as well as seven each from Tori Balma (19 assists) and Moutray (seven digs), while Ava Hatton recorded 11 digs.

“This was a great match, and I hope the girls can look back on tonight as the highlight of the season,” Putnam County coach Amy Bell said. “They came out right from the start with so much confidence, played aggressive and were having so much fun. I think we surprised Newark in a lot of ways, but we earned everything we got tonight. Unfortunately, the third set wasn’t ours, but you know what? We just kept playing hard until the final point.

“The girls left everything on the floor tonight, and that’s how – if you’re going to lose a match – you want it to be. This was a tough one for sure, but I couldn’t be prouder of how we played tonight and battled a very good Newark team point for point nearly the entire match.”

St. Bede (14-20) jumped out to leads of 6-3, 16-12 and 20-14 in the opening set before a kill off an overpass by Ali Bosnich closed it out. In the second set, a three-point service run by Amanda Wojcik was the key spurt and Reagan Stoudt’s winning swing on match point was the finishing touch.

Bosnich led the Bruins with six kills and three blocks with Emily Robbins chipping in five kills.

“The girls showed up ready to go tonight,” St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich said. “Last night was a really tough match with Woodland, so as a coach you hope your team can bring the same energy, and I feel the girls did that. I can’t help but think watching the first match tonight, one where the two teams were really giving it everything they had was an energy boost. Playing in your own gym with great support from our fans doesn’t hurt either.

“I feel like a big key tonight was our net play, whether it was our hitting or blocking. Emily Robbins and Ali Bosnich did an incredible job hitting and I don’t think Ali had any hitting errors at all tonight. Reagan Stoudt was also able to provide some key kills in moments when we really needed them.”

Henry-Senachwine (16-19) was led at the net by Abbie Stanbury (seven kills), Harper Schrock (six kills) and Kaitlyn Anderson (five kills).

“Our energy for the most part wasn’t where it could have been or should have been,” H-S coach Rita Self said. “We weren’t talking like we should have been and because of that a few balls fell untouched that we should have played over the net. We just couldn’t seem to get a point when we really needed it or make a play when we really needed to. We were right there with (St. Bede) in both sets, but just couldn’t seem to get over the hump.

“This was definitely not the same team that I saw last night that beat Serena, but we have a young team, and hopefully next year with another season of experience we can take another step forward. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming seasons, for sure.”