Girls volleyball: Lincoln-Way East cruises to sweep of Joliet Catholic Academy

JOLIET – It didn’t take long for Lincoln-Way East to announce its presence with authority Monday night in a nonconference match against Joliet Catholic Academy.

The Griffins (11-3) blitzed the Angels (6-6) 25-9 in the first set, dominating in all facets of the game while JCA sputtered out of the gate. JCA made it closer in the second set, but East picked up a sweep via a 25-19 second-set victory.

The Angels were within 7-4 in the first set before the Griffins went on a 14-1 run, highlighted by an ace by Casey Twietmeyer and two by Kyndal James. St. Louis University commit Tamia Maddox had two kills and Klarke Mosby added one. That put East up 21-5 and they got an ace by Maggie Simon and a kill each by Maddox and Kolby Ross to help close out the set.

Maddox led Lincoln-Way East with nine kills, while Alaina Pollard had seven and Ross added four. Brooklyn Ritter directed the offense with 12 assists, while Stella Drozd sparked the defense with 11 digs.

“We came out ready to go,” Maddox said. “We are always a competitive team, and we want to play to our level and keep the same intensity every match.”

The Griffins’ intensity had the Angels on their heels a bit, and JCA attempted several tip and roll shots during the first set. Lincoln-Way East. however, was proficient in its defensive positioning and quickness and brought nearly every ball up.

“We played well,” Lincoln-Way East coach Sean Burns said. “It was a nice bounce-back for us after losing to Benet on Saturday. We played clean volleyball.

“Our defense was real good tonight. They kept the ball off the floor. I’ll take that kind of effort going forward.”

JCA’s intensity picked up in the second set, and the Angels grabbed their first and only lead at 5-4. Lincoln-Way East scored the next three points for a 7-5 lead and never trailed again, but could not pull away like it did in the first set. JCA kept the set closer this time around and forged ties at 12 and 13 before a four-point spurt put Lincoln-Way East ahead for good.

Brooke Simon and Ellie Blotnik had four kills on the night to lead the Angels, while Olivia Emerson had three kills, six assists and a block.

“To say we have had better first sets would be an understatement,” JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. “We got blasted in that first set. We woke up a little bit in the second set, but you can’t come out asleep against a team like Lincoln-Way East. I think at times we got caught up in watching what they were doing.

“We recovered well in the second set. Getting beat the way we did in the first set, it might have been easy for the girls to just hang their heads and go through the motions. But they came out fighting in the second set. It’s not every team that can do that. The key for us now is to start out that way so we can dictate the tempo of the match instead of reacting to it.”

It was the defense, spearheaded by Drozd, Maddox and Maggie Simon, that sparked the Griffins in the first set.

“We worked a lot on tips in practice,” Maddox said. “We were able to get to a lot of the balls they tipped, and our setters did a good job.

“I feel like we have shown how we can play. We played Benet, one of the best teams in the state, and we went to three against them. We haven’t peaked yet. There is still some tweaking we have to do, so we will keep getting better.”