Girls volleyball: JCA rallies past Marian Catholic to advance to sectional title match

JOLIET — On Halloween night, Joliet Catholic Academy felt a little anxious, maybe even frightened, in the first set of a Class 3A JCA Sectional semifinal match against Marian Catholic.

That feeling only increased as the Spartans pushed out to a 17-10 lead and cruised to a 25-21 victory in the first set.

JCA, though, got rid of that feeling and regained its confidence, pushing through to claim a 21-25, 25-21, 25-20 victory with four sophomores — Ellie Blotnick, Olivia Chovanec, Emma Vitas and Delaney Kirstein — on the floor for most of the match.

“We were a little scared in the first set,” said Blotnik, who delivered eight kills, one behind team leader Chovanec. “We had lost to them [27-25, 25-9 on Sept. 13] earlier in the season, so this one was kind of personal.

“In the first set, they kind of got in our heads. After that, we decided to just go out there and keep swinging. We realized that this was an all-or-nothing match. If we lost, we were done.”

The Angels (21-17) got rid of the butterflies early in the second set, scoring the first four points on Jess Horn’s serve, the last one coming on an ace. Armed with a lead, JCA trailed only once in the second set, when Michelle Charles put down a kill for the Spartans, but Angel senior Ava Neuschwander got a kill of her own to put JCA ahead to stay at 21-20. Horn ended the set with her fourth kill of the match.

Marian took a quick 2-0 lead in the third set before JCA rallied behind two aces by Chovanec and a kill by Blotnik to take an 8-2 lead.

Again, Marian battled back and tied it at 12 on a kill by Mila Popovic, her 12th of the night. Chovanec delivered a kill for JCA, and the Angels never trailed again.

Neuschwander then served an ace, followed by a kill by Chovanec and a block by Horn for a 17-12 lead. Vitas followed with back-to-back kills for a 20-13 edge before Marian cut the deficit to 21-18 on a block and a kill by Kennedy Jackson. JCA outscored the Spartans 4-2 the rest of the way, with Neuschwander delivering the kill on match point to set the Angels up for a title match Wednesday night against Lemont.

“We didn’t make it easy,” JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. “Give Marian Catholic credit. They came out and played buck wild in the first set, and we were trying to win the match on one play. After that, we focused on one thing at a time. Make the next pass, get the next serve in. When we were able to do that, we were able to control the pace of the match.

“It’s great to make it this far with so many young players. This is nothing but great experience for them. And, when we needed her, Ava Neuschwander was there like she always is. We just need to keep believing and stay positive and focus on the next thing.”