Minooka volleyball beats Bourbonnais for third straight year
By Mark Johnson
-
mjohnson@morrisdailyherald.com
MINOOKA — Two days remained until Halloween on Thursday evening, but the Bradley-Bourbonnias Boilermakers were already haunted by their own version of the Grim Reaper.
For the third straight year, the Boilermakers were pitted against the Minooka Indians in an IHSA Class 4A girls volleyball regional semifinal match. For the third straight year, their season was ended by the Indians. Minooka lived up to its billing as the No. 1 seed at its own regional, eliminating the Boilermakers with a 25-18, 25-13 victory.
The win puts the Indians one step away from their first regional championship since 2000, when they advanced to the Class 2A state tournament in the old IHSA two-class system. They will face No. 2 seed Normal Community Saturday at 1 p.m. in the regional championship. Normal defeated Normal West 25-18, 25-15 in Thursday's second semifinal match.
"We played Bradley in the first round last year, and we knew they lost a couple of girls to graduation that were good players," said junior Minooka outside hitter Dariyan Hopper. "But I think we stayed focused and worked hard in practice, because you have to play well to win and you have to win to keep playing this time of year."
Boliermakers junior Olivia Donley served up the first two points of the match, but the Indians bounced right back. Hopper had a sideout kill — the first of her match-high 11 — and the Indians went ahead to stay on an ace by Stacey Perinar, which was the first of three service points she reeled off.
Hopper set herself up to serve a bit later with a sideout kill. She outdid the jump-serving Perinar with four straight points that increased the Minooka lead to 10-4. Hopper ended the match with eight service points, which was one behind the nine totaled by teammate Emily Benkovich.
"I mean, we can't all hit the ball quite like Stacey can, but we'll take points however we can get them," said Hopper. "I thought our serving was a little bit shaky in Game 1 but it got better in Game 2. We served more aggressively in the second game."
Bradley-Bourbonnais almost caught the Indians in Game 1. Three successive service points from sophomore Danie Callanan helped them get it down to 15-14. Hopper again shifted the momentum back to the Indians with a sideout kill before Benkovich served up a pair of points. Two service points from Hopper and one each from from libero Megan McMillin and senior Allison Cherry got the Indians to 25.
"I don't think that we played our best tonight, but we played well enough to win," said Minooka coach Jill Nehring. "When we needed players to step up, they did. Caleigh Hill stepped up especially at the net. Overall we need to play better at the net, but we did OK."
Game 2 was deadlocked at 3-3 until Hill pounded down a sideout kill and Benkovich served up a pair of points. Two more points from Hopper on an ace and a point she killed herself made it 9-4 Minooka, and McMilllin added three service points to boost the lead to 13-5. Benkovich later ended the game, the match and the season for the Boilermakers with five consecutive points. Cherry and Hill blocked Bradley-Bourbonnais kill attempts during that stretch.
Hill turned in six kills and Cherry had four for the Indians. Hill and Kaluzny finished in a tie for the team lead in blocks with two.
"We came in knowing we had to play well in the net and away from the net and work hard together," said Hopper. "Our setters did a good job of giving our hitters a chance and mixing it up."
Senior Megan Singletary and Benkovich, who share time at setter for the Indians, each reached double digits in assists. Benkovich tied Bradley-Bourbonnias senior Kourtney Bridgewater for the match lead with 12 assists, and Singletary finished just off their pace with 10.
"We had a good game," said Singletary. "We had some rough times this year, but we worked together to get past time and are on top of our game right now. We have been [rotating] all season, so we're used to it."
According to the IHSA's Web site, the Indians have won four regional championships. Its records on the Minooka program date to 1975. Normal Community had a streak of 12 straight regional titles snapped last year. Even so, it compiled a 27-8 record during the 2008 season. The Indians are presently 22-10 overall.
Comments
