Girls volleyball: Minooka rallies to nip Bradley-Bourbonnais in three

MINOOKA – It didn’t look great for Minooka early Monday in a nonconference match against Bradley-Bourbonnais.

The Indians fell behind 8-4 early in the first set and never fully recovered, dropping the opening set 25-21. But Minooka had something Bradley-Bourbonnais didn’t.

The Brass sisters.

Senior twins Makenzie and Kennedi and sophomore Brooklynne helped key an Indian uprising that saw Minooka rebound and win the next two sets 25-20 and 25-22 to claim the victory and move above .500 to 6-5 on the season.

“We are getting better with every match,” said Makenzie Brass, who tied with Brooklynne for the team high with eight kills. “I think a win like this against a good team like Bradley could kick start us to keep it going the rest of the season.

“We are getting more and more comfortable with each other on the court, and we had real good energy in this game. We really wanted it tonight.”

Despite trailing early in the first set, Minooka showed signs of things to come by battling back to tie it at 9-all and eventually held a 12-10 lead. The Indians got back-to-back kills from Makenzie and Brooklynne Brass, and a Boilermaker hitting error gave Minooka a 20-17 lead. This time, however, it was Bradley-Bourbonnais’ turn to fight back, and the Boilermakers finished the set on an 8-1 run, capped by back-to-back aces by Addison Peterson to end the set.

Bradley-Bourbonnais then got out to an 8-5 lead in the second set before Minooka stormed back, grabbing a 13-10 lead as Makenna Petrovic had two kills and Brooklynne Brass had a kill and a block during an 8-2 spurt. Bradley-Bourbonnais answered with a 6-0 run of its own to move ahead 16-13. The set was tied at 19 before Minooka outscored the Boilermakers 6-1 the rest of the way to end it and send the match to a third set.

The third was just as tight as the previous two, with Minooka holding a 15-13 lead before Bradley tied at again. Minooka then got another kill from Petrovic and never trailed again. With the Indians leading 19-17, Brooklynne Brass got a kill, and Makenzie Brass followed with a kill, then a block, to put Minooka ahead 22-17. Bradley-Bourbonnais got a kill from Ellie Haggard, two straight by Brooklyn Daugherty and one by Myah Crawford to pull to within 23-22, but a serving error gave Minooka a 24-22 lead, and Makenzie Brass ended it with a kill.

Besides Brooklynne (2 aces) and Makenzie each having eight kills, Kennedi Brass had a team-high 17 digs. Sophomore Kendall Kozak had 13 assists, six digs, one ace and six kills.

“We started kind of slow,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “We had homecoming on Saturday, so we had a little bit of rust in the first set. But we shook it off and found a way to win. The girls are getting more comfortable with each other on the court, and our serve receive has picked up.

“These girls feed off the energy. They need it. And our offense was spread around. It was a total team effort. It wasn’t just one or two girls doing most of the work. Everyone that was on the floor was contributing. You can’t just pick one star for us in this match.”