Sauk volleyball sweeps Rock Valley in battle of ranked teams

DIXON – In a battle of ranked teams, the Sauk Valley Skyhawks came up with a powerful first set, rallied in the second, then pulled out a close third set Tuesday to beat Rock Valley 25-14, 25-21, 25-22.

All three sets did have one thing in common: Sauk’s Michal Willman ended all three. The former Faith Christian standout capped off the first set by dropping a kill just inside the back corner, nearly taking out the corner judge in the process; served up an ace to end the second; then added another kill to close the match.

“I thought we were really smart,” Willman said. “When the sets weren’t there, I thought we adjusted well. I think our middles did a really good job executing when we needed it the most.”

Willman was able to mix in hard hits with tips to keep Rock Valley guessing. She primarily kept hitting hard early on, such as on back-to-back kills for the first two points of the opening set. In the second set, she threw in a tip to tie the score at 15-15, then added another a few minutes later to put the Skyhawks up 22-20.

“It challenges us, and we like that,” Rock Valley coach Kristy Pierce said. “That’s why they’re on our schedule, it’s a challenge to face that type of player.”

Willman had seven kills in the third set alone, one off of a tip, and another a hit from the back row.

“They were triple-blocking me, so I thought if there were three up there has to be a lot of room behind them,” she said. “I was just hoping there wouldn’t be anyone there, and luckily I found the court.”

Willman finished with 17 kills, 14 digs and four aces, with Kiley Sanders adding 13 kills, eight figs and three aces for the Skyhawks. Maddie Sands had 14 digs and six assists, Audra Goff dished 23 assists, and Gabby Jones added 10 assists and three kills. Tiana Tichler finished with five kills and three blocks, Jaelyn Fitzgerald had two kills and five digs, and Hannah Adams served four aces.

Sauk, ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA Division II poll, took control early in the first set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Tichler later came up with a block and a kill on back-to-back points to extend the lead to 9-3. Sauk made it 13-5 when a pair of Willman aces were sandwiched around Tichler slamming down a Rock Valley overpass.

Late in the set, Sanders took over, tooling the block for one point, taking care of an overpass on the next, then tooling the block again before rotating to the back and serving back-to-back aces. Adams later served back-to-back aces herself.

Rock Valley, ranked No. 6 in the NJCAA Division III poll, was the one to jump out to the early lead in the second set. Holland Smits served an ace, and the Eagles then got kills from Addison Metts and Madison Koelker.

“I think they just decided to compete, like I don’t think they were competing in the beginning of the match,” Pierce said. “We were off-kilter. Once we started competing, we started playing with them. I think we can play with them and I think we can win, we just have to decide that before we start.”

Sauk Valley (9-0) chipped away several times, and a block by Willman tied the score at 5-5, but Rock Valley regained the lead. It was 11-7 Golden Eagles after a Samantha Ingram block before Sauk Valley reeled off six straight points, including an ace from Goff and a kill by Sanders.

Rock Valley (9-3) briefly retook the lead, but Sauk went on another run with kills from Willman and Jones and an ace from Sanders, eventually pulling ahead 20-15.

“I told them they were going to come back, because Rock Valley’s a good team,” Sauk Valley coach Jay Howell said. “They’re not ranked No. 6 for no reason. It was a matter of they ran off a good serve, [Smits] got a service run on us, and then we had a hard time getting her passed. Once we got into system, we were fine. The biggest thing for us, I thought, was we got some big blocks on their big hitters early. They have two hitters averaging over four kills per set, and we got some blocks early, so I think that made a big difference.”

In the third set, neither team could establish much of a lead most of the way. The score was tied 12 times in that set alone.

After Rock Valley took a 17-16 lead on a Jeleyana Fichtner kill, Willman came back with a tip to tie the score, then an ace to put the Skyhawks in front. A Sauk hitting error tied it again at 18-18, but Sanders and Willman came up with kills on back-to-back plays, and Sauk led the rest of the way.

Rock Valley fell behind 23-20 before back-to-back kills by Metts, who finished with 15 in the game, but Sanders answered with a kill and Willman added another to end it.

“We really just had to come together, stay aggressive and play our game,” Tichler said.

Natalie Hughes, an Eastland grad, led Rock Valley with 12 digs.