#5 LLCC defeats #14 McHenry 25-20, 25-18, 25-14

#5 LLCC defeats #6 Sauk Valley 25-19, 27-25, 23-25, 25-15
 

The first match of the regular season's final tournament for the Loggers came against McHenry Community College, the 14th ranked team in the nation. The Loggers led early before three errors and two McHenry blocks turned a 12-9 game into a 14-12 deficit that was righted by a run of serves by freshman Carissa Smith eventually finished a rotation later by Delaney Edwards' ace for the 25-20 win.  The second set was all about Lincoln Land's serving as runs by Bobana Marusic and Carissa Smith opened a 13-5 lead, helped by the blocking of sophomore middles Brea Cunningham and Addie Patton.  Kiersten Anderson widened the gap to 19-8 with an ace and the Loggers coasted on to a 25-14 victory.  The final set saw the Loggers lead the whole way, led by a solo block by Anderson and multiple kills by Addie Patton, mixed with an errorless performance by Cunningham (6-0-9) and Edwards' seven kills (hitting .375).

"We only had one moment in the second set where we had a run of silly errors.  Otherwise, I was happiest with our blocking.  Our timing was great with everyone and that makes defense so much easier."

*****

Lincoln Land squared off with Sauk Valley again for the second time in three weeks, following a four-set barnburner at LLCC on October 6.  The Loggers started in a hole, missing a serve, shanking a pass, and hitting two balls out of bounds to spot Sauk a 5-1 lead before catching up at eight behind kills from Addie Patton and a two-hand setter flip to the middle of the court by Kiersten Anderson.  The Loggers took over late in the game behind consecutive kills by Delaney Edwards, made possible by Carissa Smith's defense and tough serving.  The second set was tough for LLCC as it trailed 19-12 at one point after a series of hitting errors and two big Sauk Valley blocks.  The Loggers made a lineup adjustment, bringing sophomore Brook Soebbing in to serve and set which brought the Loggers back to a 24-24 tie.  "It was exactly what we needed.  We got some aggressive play from Brook and I think it forced the passers to think a little more about what they were doing.  And honestly, Kiersten had been running quite a bit out there, so it was a good rest for her, too," Coach Dietz said afterwards.  The Loggers won the set 27-25 on a double block by Soebbing and fellow sophomore Brea Cunningham.

Unfortunately, when the Loggers dug a six-point hole in the third, they were unable to climb out of it.  Trailing 20-14, LLCC came back to tie the game at 23, but Sauk's Bailey O'Brien was too much and finished the scoring with two kills.  The fourth set started with the two teams trading errors.  Unfortunately for Sauk, LLCC fixed things first and built a six point lead after three straight points on Sauk Valley net violations.  Forced to push, Sauk was unable to break through the LLCC block and the Loggers cruised to their first easy set of the contest, 25-15.   

"Sauk's tough.  I think they just had a mental hiccup at the end and got a little flustered by the net calls.  When you're down a set, you press a little harder.  I tried to emphasize that to the girls--don't give the ball back easily. We didn't  We got some good serving from Carissa (Smith) and had our second great blocking match in a row, especially Brea Cunningham and Addie Patton, and Kiersten (Anderson) spread the ball around so we had four different hitters with eight or more kills."

The Loggers are now 30-6 on the season and are riding a ten game winning streak. They continue play in the Pumpkin Bash Saturday at Parkland vs. Carl Sandburg at 1pm.

Match stats:
vs. McHenry
Digs: Marusic 11, Beekman 10
Aces: Smith 3, Edwards 3
Block: Cunningham 4, Patton 3, Anderson 3
Assists: Anderson 26
Kills: Edwards 7, Cunningham 6

vs. Sauk Valley
Digs: Marusic 19, Anderson 14
Aces: 5 tied w/1
Blocks: Patton 5, Cunningham 4
Assists: Anderson 43
Kills: Patton 17, Edwards 9, Beekman 9