BLOOMINGTON – Morton High School head volleyball coach Darrin Johnson admitted after his team’s victory over Limestone High in the IHSA Class 3A Volleyball Sectional at Bloomington High School Wednesday that he felt his team “squeaked out a victory.â€
In the closing moments of the third game, senior Shannon McGlaughlin set the ball for a kill by senior Heidi Schoenbein in the closing moments of game three, the ball winding up being missed by Limestone defenders.
The Potters won over Limestone with scores of 20-25, 25-10, and 25-23. Morton (22-11-1) will face host Bloomington High School (27-8) Saturday, starting at 6p.m.
Johnson said when his team faced Limestone earlier in the season, the Rockets were missing four of their key players making matters rather easy for the Rockets. But Thursday’s affair was very different.
“We knew this would not be the same kind of match that we had had before,†Johnson said.
“We were planning to advance to face Bloomington,†Johnson said. “Bloomington has beaten us earlier in the year, but at that time, we had one setter out and another was just coming back. Bloomington will see a different kind of team (in us on Saturday).
Johnson said the game two loss “didn’t totally surprise†him because he had seen this pattern before – losing a second game after winning a game one – against Metamora earlier in the season.
“It would have surprised me if we didn’t (win) the second and third games,†Johnson said.
Limestone (16-14) held an 18-9 lead, and Rockets senior hitter Katlyn Roos served the winning point in game one. In game two, Morton junior server Shelbi Ummel ran off six aces in the middle of game two, in the middle of a Potters’ 7-0 run that led to their first victory. Game three was the tightest of the the matches, with Morton winning on the McGlaughlin-Schoenbein collaboration play.
East Peoria Exits Against Bloomington: It was Raiders versus Raiders in the opening match, as East Peoria High took on the hosts, Bloomington High’s Purple Raiders. East Peoria gave BHS a battle in the first game before losing a 25-21 decision, but fell behind quickly in game two, losing 25-9.
The first match was tied 11 times, the last one coming at 21-all, before BHS began pulling away, match point coming on a kill by junior outside hitter Alina Agamy. Agamy ended the night with 10 kills. Game two was close in the early stages, but BHS began pulling away on the strength of serves by sophomore server Emily Burger, who garnered nine service points.
Three players from East Peoria (4-27) – sophomore middle hitter Shelby Lauterbach, junior outside hitters Tiffany McCarthy and Andrea Bury – each registered an ace when serving on the night. McCarthy and junior Shelby Scharp each had seven digs on the night.
Sophomore outside hitter Emily Burger ended her night with BHS (26-8) with nine service points and 17 assists. Agamy had eight service points, including three aces.
East Peoria head coach Melissa Kruse said that, in the first game, her troops played what she thought was “the best, honestly, that they had played the whole season.
“I was proud of them because they played as a team, all six girls – and even the girls who came in off the bench – came on strong,†Kruse said. “Their heads were in the game, they were focused, and they really applied the skills that we focused on this week in practice (which included) working on being a smart hitter and being an effective blocker.â€
Too often during the season, Kruse said, her team found themselves hitting directly into an opponent’s block. These two games though, Kruse said, her team “found ways around the blocking.â€
Between matches, BHS head coach Joe Sanders said he told his team they needed “to concentrate on executing on our side, and tried (to settle their nerves). It’s the first game of the postseason and I think some of the older (players) attached some emotional significance to the postseason because we’ve gotten into big games the longer it went on and lost. I told them, ‘guys, just relax. Let’s go out there and play our game.’â€