Girls volleyball: Diverse offensive attack leads JCA past Providence

NEW LENOX – The Joliet Catholic Academy offense was an equal-opportunity employer Thursday night in a 25-22, 25-17 win over Providence Catholic.

Sophomore Olivia Chovanec led the Angels (11-6) with six kills, while sophomore Brooke Simon had five, seniors Ava Neuschwander and Emma Vitas along with sophomore Ellie Blotnik had four kills each, and setter Jess Horn added three of her own when she wasn’t otherwise occupied spreading the wealth.

“We have been working on spreading things out a lot,” Horn said. “That work paid off tonight.

“It’s pretty nice when it doesn’t matter who I set, they are most likely going to get the ball down. I try to feel out who has the hot hand, or look at the defense and see which of our players has a better situation against the block and feed that person.”

The two schools with storied football programs meet on the gridiron Friday night, but both fan bases got a fine warmup Thursday. As expected when JCA and Providence meet, the gym was loud and the competition fierce.

JCA maintained a slight edge early in the first set, moving ahead 11-6 before the Celtics (5-7) countered with a 9-4 run that tied it at 15 after an ace by Ellie Kulpinski. JCA crept ahead 17-15 on a kill by Vitas and an ace by Chovanec. Providence refused to give in, and the set was tied at 20 after a kill by Kylie Williams, one of a team-high six on the night.

JCA then pulled away, outscoring the Celtics 5-2 the rest of the way to take the first set. The Angels got two kills from Vitas and one each from Bloom and Horn in that stretch.

“We work a lot on closing out games,” Horn said. “We try to minimize our mistakes and not give any points away.”

The second set was much the same as the first, with Providence holding the lead midway through at 14-12. JCA rallied to take a 15-14 lead on an ace by Lauren Cardwell, but the Celtics tied it with a kill by Williams.

From then on, however, it was all Angels in a 10-2 run that closed out the match. Chovanec had two kills in the stretch, while Horn and Neuschwander had one each, and Neuschwander added an ace.

“This was a pretty solid match for us,” JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. “We were very balanced, and we bounced back from a loss Tuesday. Providence played a helluva game, and so did we.

“It was great that we were able to run so many different options. It’s nice that we have the freedom and flexibility to do that.”

Providence coach Lee Rucinski said his team will use the match as a learning experience.

“Some of them are playing varsity for the first time and, against a team like JCA, we get to where it’s 20-20 or 15-15 and think, ‘Now what?’” Rucinski said. “We hope to see them again in November, and we will have learned quite a bit by then.

“It was nice to see Kylie Williams have a big game. She is one of the girls returning that lost to JCA in the sectionals last year, so seeing her step up was very good.”