Volleyball: Sterling wins 2019 supersectional rematch in three sets

STERLING – There will be no state championships to be won for volleyball teams in Illinois this spring, but Monday at Musgrove Fieldhouse came about as close as the season will get to a title game.

Belvidere North entered the day unbeaten, and took the first set against two-time defending Class 3A state champion Sterling, but the Golden Warriors rallied to take the next two sets for a 21-25, 25-12, 25-23 win.

The last time the two teams met, things played out much the same way, with the Blue Thunder taking the first set of their Class 3A LaSalle-Peru Supersectional in November 2019, only to have the Warriors come back to win the next two. Eight days later, the Warriors secured their second straight state title.

“I think that was the highlight of our season,” Sterling senior Bree Borum said. “They’re one of the best teams in the state, so it’s really fun to play them and have good competition.”

Belvidere North had trouble stopping Sterling’s powerful front line. Brooklyn Borum had 22 kills to go with 19 digs and two blocks. Grace Egan had 10 kills, three blocks and two aces.

“From a blocking standpoint, we don’t match up well with them,” Belvidere North coach Amanda Carlson said. “So our game plan was to serve aggressively and attack deep corner, which didn’t work out too well for us; we didn’t execute that as well as we would have liked. But we know their kids have another gear. Brooklyn and Grace are probably the two best outsides in the state, so we knew we had our work cut out for us.”

The Blue Thunder were able to get their hitters going for a while as well. Rachel Scott had 14 kills, and Grace Betke added 12 kills, able to do damage in the attack even when she was in the back row.

“[Betke’s] the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Carlson said. “She’s 5-foot-5, but she’s all fire. She was banging balls, so we wanted to feed her, and she did a great job.”

After dropping the first set, Sterling raced out to big leads early in the second and third sets. The second set started off with an ace from Egan followed by three kills from Brooklyn Borum in the next four points for a 4-1 Warriors lead.

In the third set, it was four kills from Brooklyn Borum and another ace by Egan helping Sterling build an early 6-1 lead.

“We just had the momentum,” Brooklyn Borum said. “We were serving really hard trying to get them out of system, and that was working in our favor, so we had to keep playing hard.”

Sterling (19-1) cruised from start to finish in the second set, leading at one point 21-8 before the Blue Thunder managed to close the gap somewhat in the final few points, getting back-to-back kills from Scott before a hit out of bounds ended it.

In the third set, Sterling’s big early lead nearly evaporated more than once. Up 11-4 after a kill from Egan, Sterling saw Belvidere North take the next five points, getting a pair of kills from Scott and a block from Micaela Bowen to make it 11-9.

Sterling again stretched the lead. On back-to-back points, Egan tooled the Blue Thunder block, with the ball flying back beyond the Sterling baseline for Golden Warrior points. After back-to-back kills from Scott, Egan added a tip for a 15-11 Sterling lead.

Belvidere North (12-1) rallied back again, getting an ace from Betke and a kill from Scott before a Madison Clark block cut the deficit to 18-16.

Sterling again built a four-point lead, but the Blue Thunder again rallied, with Betke getting back-to-back kills and Ava Irvin serving an ace to get Belvidere North within one.

After the teams traded points with an Egan block and a Scott kill to make it 21-20 Sterling, a net violation and a ball hit out of bounds by the Blue Thunder put the Golden Warriors two points away from closing things out.

A bad serve by Sterling made it 23-21 before Egan again tooled the Blue Thunder block to make it 24-21.

Scott staved off defeat with another kill, and Sterling hit a ball into the net, but Brooklyn Borum was able to finish things off with a thunderous kill off an assist from Bree Borum.

“We just had to play harder,” Brooklyn Borum said. “We were giving up on some of the 50/50 balls that should have been ours, so we just had to play all-out defense, and we knew if we played that, the win would come to us.”

Bree Borum had 18 assists and 22 digs. Riley Dittmar had 12 assists. Macie Gebhardt had a pair of blocks. Jordan Bryant added an ace.

Sterling contributed eight unforced errors to the Blue Thunder’s win in the first set, including a double hit on set point.

“We had to stop our unforced errors and start playing together and play the game the way we usually play,” Bree Borum said. “I think we came out strong, but slow. So just picking up the intensity and energy and doing what we do best was key.”