La Salle-Peru earns season split with road win over Ottawa

OTTAWA — As fans filed out of Kingman Gymnasium after Thursday’s volleyball match between Ottawa and La Salle-Peru, one asked the person walking alongside them, “Boy, that was a real battle, wasn’t it?”

Without missing a beat, the reply was simply, “What would you expect? It’s Ottawa and L-P.”

The two teams came into the contest with almost identical records. The Pirates had topped their rivals and Interstate 8 Conference foe March 23 to snap an 11-match losing streak to the Cavaliers that dated to 2014.

This time, however, L-P was the better squad and returned the favor with a hard-fought, 25-22, 25-20 triumph and now have won 23 of the past 25 meetings between the two programs.

“I really think we moved better and played smarter, but I also think we really just connected better than the first time. I feel we played well whether it was passing, blocking, hitting or defense. It was an all-around good match for us.”

—  La Salle-Peru senior Ella Thompson

“That loss to open the season against them really made us push each other even more,” said L-P senior Ella Thompson, who had a three kills in the win. “We came into tonight just wanting to win. I mean, we’re town rivals, but it was a fun night for my last match in Kingman.

“I really think we moved better and played smarter, but I also think we really just connected better than the first time. I feel we played well whether it was passing, blocking, hitting or defense. It was an all-around good match for us.”

La Salle-Peru (8-7, 6-5) was led by five kills and five service points from Kenzie DeFosse; four kills, three blocks and seven points from Ashley Urbanski; and two kills and a pair of blocks from Olivia Shetterly.

Ottawa was paced by Piper Nanouski (six kills, six digs, three aces), Ryleigh Stevenson (five kills, three aces), Reese Burgwald (eight digs) and Lily Miller (14 assists).

The visitors jumped to a 9-4 lead in the first set before the hosts scored nine of the next 12 points, including a kill and pair of aces by Nanouski to pull ahead, 15-12. Ottawa still led, 21-19, but L-P used a serving and hitting error by Ottawa and a kill and block by Shetterly to hold a 23-31 advantage. The Cavs then closed out the set by following another Pirates service miscue with a block from Ashley Urbanski.

“Both teams are very even, and we knew it would be another close match, but it comes down to the team that makes the last run is going to win,” L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. “The first time they were the better team, and tonight we were.

“Tonight we played with a lot more confidence than we did the first match with Ottawa, but I also think that is because we’ve played a number of matches since and the girls have found their roles and what is expected. We blocked very well and played solid defense ... both have been strengths of ours all season. We also found ways to score and took what the defense gave us.

“I thought overall we played a pretty solid match.”

The second set was tied five times early, the last at 10-10, but L-P was able to trade three points for two until grabbing a 22-16 lead. From there, a winning swing from DeFosse, a tip from Thompson and a missed serve by Ottawa concluded the match.

“You can’t have 11 service errors and expect to win a varsity match,” said Ottawa coach Jenn Crum, who added that it also hurt her team in a loss to Sycamore on Tuesday. “Even the first time we played, I thought we were two really even teams, but when you have two evenly matched teams, it’s more likely than not going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes and who can make the plays when it gets down to the wire.

“We knew they would block our hitters stronger this time around, and they did, especially early, so we tried to move the ball around more. But like I said, we missed too many serves, even from girls that rarely do, and it was just tough to overcome that.

“We’ve come a long way, improved so much this year, and played really well here at home, but tonight just wasn’t our night.”