Volleyball: Newark tops St. Bede for fourth straight regional title

PERU – The No.-12 seeded St. Bede volleyball team gave top-seeded Newark everything it wanted and more during the Class 1A St. Bede Regional championship Thursday at Abbott Vincent Gymnasium.

But in the end, the service game and the big hitters of the Norsemen came through as Newark won 25-15, 25-17 to claim it fourth consecutive regional title.

“I thought our service game was big tonight,” Newark coach PJ McKinney said. “At times it has been for us, and I thought it kept St. Bede on their heels a bit tonight and allowed our offense to get rolling at times, as well.”

The Norsemen found out early the Bruins were not going to be intimidated by the big hitters, as St. Bede came ready to play.

Ali Bosnich started the game with a nice touch shot and then combined with Bella Pinter for a block at the net for an early 2-0 lead.

Moments later, Kiara Wesseh got a shot to roll off the net and fall before Taylor Kruser served up an ace to tie the game at 3.

The back-and-forth continued as the Bruins regained the lead after a pair of Newark errors and then a nice touch shot from Amanda Wojcik for gave St. Bede a 6-3 advantage.

Newark, however, went on a 5-0 run with the help of two kills from Lauren Ulrich and Bre Dixon before Dixon also picked up a block. A kill from Kodi Rizzo forced a Bruins’ timeout with Newark leading 8-6.

Emily Robbins ended the Newark run with a shot into the corner, but back-to-back kills from Addison Ness and an ace from Danica Peshia extended Newark’s lead to 11-7.

St. Bede continued to play well at the net with Pinter and Reagan Stoudt picking up the block to cut the deficit to 13-10.

“I thought we were pretty focused tonight,” an emotional St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich said. “Newark has some big hitters, and we came out and started out well. I thought we did a really good job at the net at times, as well, but I thought we were playing a lot of defense tonight and it started with Newark’s service game.”

St. Bede was forced to call another timeout after two kills from Wesseh and Dixon and another ace from Kruser that extended the Newark lead to 17-11.

“I was trying to push them deep with the serve,” Kruser said. “I knew they had two in the back and the serve was going backwards instead of toward the net, which put St. Bede on the defensive and allowed our big hitters to start firing away and smoking the ball.”

Shortly after the timeout, Wesseh again blasted away, and Rizzo added a touch for a 19-12 lead. Newark then got a block from Grace Thrall and Rizzo to go along with a Rizzo ace that helped the Norsemen take the first set 25-15.

The Newark service game continued to back up the St. Bede defense with another ace, this time from Ulrich.

After a Bruin miss hit, Rizzo hit back-to-back crosscourt shots, and after Wesseh followed with one of her own, Newark took a 5-1 lead, forcing a Bruins timeout.

St. Bede responded well after the break as Pinter pounded a shot off the Newark block before Wojcik smashed a kill and added a touch shot at the net.

A few plays later, Wojcik and Robbins had kills that cut the deficit to 7-6 Newark.

“I asked the girls in that timeout if they had given everything they had yet,” Abbi Bosnich said. “The answer was no, and I thought we really came out and played well after that.”

After Ness found a hole in the St. Bede defense, Ali Bosnich started a 6-0 St. Bede run with a kill.

Wojcik and Stoudt teamed up for a block and an Ari Heersink ace made it 12-9 Bruins.

But the Norsemen were able to tie the game as three straight St. Bede shots sailed out of bounds.

With the game tied at 14, Newark rattled off three straight points with a Wesseh kill and a Kelly Christian block for a 17-14 lead.

Stoudt had back-to-back key plays with a one-handed stab that saw the ball find a hole and then a shot off the Newark defense to cut the deficit to 17-16.

The Newark service game again put the Bruins on their heels, which led to a dink shot from Wesseh and a Ness kill for a 20-17 advantage.

After an Ali Bosnich net violation, Wesseh smacked a shot down the line and Kruser added another ace as Newark came away with the second set for the title

Wesseh led the Norsemen (32-5) with nine kills, while Dixon added five to go along with four from both Rizzo and Ness. Wesseh and Kruser had four digs each. Newark now advances to play Newman in a Forreston Sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Monday.

The Bruins finish 13-22.