JOLIET – It was a tale of two games Thursday night as Plainfield South hosted Minooka in a Southwest Prairie Conference volleyball match.

Minooka (4-3, 4-2) won, 25-18, 25-8, but it was they way they beat Plainfield South that was different.

In the first game, which was much closer that the final score indicated, their were eight ties in a back-and-forth game, which South led, 13-11. Minooka then reeled off five straight points to go ahead, 16-13, and never relinquished the lead after that. South cut the lead to 21-18, but the Indians scored the final four points to win.

“We are using this season to get experience for everyone since we only have three seniors,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “But we are also treating the season just like any other because this year we will have a conference tournament to finish the season, something we usually don’t have. So in that respect, it’s about how you play at the end, just like if we had a state tournament.”

With the Cougars up, 5-3, in Game 2, the Indians’ Heidi Bonde had one of her eight kills on the night to make it 5-4, and then she went to serve. And serve she did, as the 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter had 15 consecutive service points, including three aces and several line drives that couldn’t be handled after they crossed the net.

South finally stopped the streak, but Minooka had a 19-5 led and essentially had won the match.

“That was pretty cool to serve like that, and I have never had anything like that happen when I was serving in my high school career,” Bonde said. “”I’m known as a big hitter, but I take a lot of pride in serving and that certainly wasn’t unexpected, but fun.

“The unknown before the season started was scary, whether we would even have a season, but now we want to go out with a bang and make the most of this opportunity. With club on the weekends, it’s a lot of volleyball, but it is preparing us for what college will be like.”

The Indians two other seniors, Jessica DeCraene and Collette Seidel, along with Bonde, have been true leaders for the team, something Prosek loves to see.

“Our three seniors have always put the team first, and I’m so glad our juniors get to learn from them. All three have been great role models for, not only their teammates, but for our program.

“I haven’t seen many consecutive service points like Heidi [Bonde] had in my coaching career, and that was fun to see, and everyone contributed during the run. Heidi has been with us since her freshman year with a lot of good players, and some of those serves were as good as I have ever seen.”

“We are excited to just have a season, but what is special is that we get to experience all of this different type of season with the juniors, and that is cool to do,” Seidel said.

“Just being a part of this team and program is special,” DeCraene said. “It certainly has been a crazy year, but it has also been fun, and we are not finished yet.”