College volleyball: Sauk Valley rolls past Highland at home

DIXON – It took a few points for Sauk Valley to get going Tuesday night in its Arrowhead Conference match against Highland, but once the Skyhawks found their groove, they got on a roll.

Sauk took control midway through the first set, carried that over in a dominant second set, then rallied from its first deficit of the match to win the third set in a 25-17, 25-10, 25-20 Arrowhead Conference victory.

“We’re not always strong right out of the gate, but as soon as we find our rhythm, we just keep putting the ball down,” sophomore Lacey Eissens said. “As soon as everyone finds their own rhythm and where they’re supposed to be, then we start trusting each other – and then we really take off.”

[ Photos from Sauk Valley vs. Highland college volleyball ]

The former West Carroll standout provided the spark in the first set for the NJCAA Division II 11th-ranked Skyhawks with four kills in a short stretch to help turn a 7-6 lead into a 16-9 margin. Highland rallied within 17-15 thanks to kills from Kaidynce Lynch and Emma Miller and an ace from Lynch, but Newman grad Jess Johns had four kills in the next five points to stretch the lead back to 22-15, and a spike by freshman Maggie Richetta, from Putnam County, helped finish the first set.

“I have really great chemistry with all the girls, and I really get everyone joking and in a good mood,” Eissens said. “We really feed off of each other. I’m having a great time with this team this year, so I really try to get everyone involved, especially cheering on the bench and being there for each other.”

Sauk (14-4, 4-0) kept things rolling in the second set, building a 15-3 lead thanks to multiple kills from Johns, Eissens, Mendota’s ReAnna Brant and Richetta. Erie grad Claire Reymer’s kill made the margin 12, and a block by Richetta and an ace from Oregon’s Ava Wight made it 20-5. Richetta stuffed another block and had a pair of kills around an Eissens spike on an overpass to close out the set.

“It went very smooth,” said Wight about the second set. “I didn’t even know the score. I looked up and thought, ‘Wow, how did that happen?’ Honestly, I think we were just playing together as a team and the score didn’t matter; we were just having fun, and that’s all that mattered at that point.”

“I think we got more comfortable,” Johns said. “We started on our ‘losing’ side of the court – it’s stupid, because we practice on this side of the court – but we won there, and then once we got on our ‘winning’ side, we got going. We just got into a rhythm, and they were making errors and we were capitalizing on that. We were getting a perfect ball up and the setters were on, and we were putting it down.”

The Cougars (10-4, 3-1) grabbed their first lead of the match in the third set as six straight errors by Sauk after Johns opened with a pair of kills gave Highland a 6-3 lead. But kills by Richetta and Johns tied the score 6-6, then a kill by Richetta and a block by Eissens put the Skyhawks in front.

After Eastland grad Audrey Sundquist’s block for Highland tied the set again at 8-8, Eissens had a kill, Brant added three more and Johns spiked another as Sauk stretched the margin to 16-10. Reymer’s kill answered a dump kill by Highland setter Brianna Gonnerman, an Ashton-Franklin Center grad, then Richetta and Eissens slammed kills to answer a kill and ace from Lynch and a block by Milledgeville grad Lydia Faulkner for a 20-15 lead.

Miller and Richetta traded kills, then Gonnerman had a tip-kill that was answered by back-to-back Eissens spikes as the Skyhawks led 23-18. Taryn Mathews’ block pulled the Cougars within 23-20, but Johns’ kill and Wight’s ace out of a Sauk timeout ended the match.

“It’s very nice that we have six people who can play back row, and it’s nice having that versatility and being able to count on everyone who’s in there,” Johns said. “Then as a setter, when you’re not worrying about having to go chase down a pass, you’re more focused on being able to make that connection with the hitter, and then the hitter’s confident in the setter. It’s a whole package, and it was working tonight.”

The first touch was key all match long for Sauk, as almost every girl who played the back row – led by Wight (22 digs), her Oregon classmate Kenna Wubbena (8 digs), and Rock Falls’ Carli Kobbeman (10 digs) and Denali Stonitsch (8 digs) – made a hustle play at some point to keep a rally alive. More than one Skyhawk hit the deck for a diving save, and that energized the rest of the team.

“We have such good chemistry, and I think everybody knows their role on the court,” Wight said. “They think, ‘That’s my ball, I have to go get it,’ and it’s not like you’re stepping on anybody’s toes if you go for the ball. If you get that ball up, we’re there to cheer you on, so everyone just wants to go for it and make a play for the team.”

Serving also played a key role, and after a few serves into the net early on in the match, Sauk found its rhythm and used an aggressive attack from the service line to take Highland’s offense out of system.

Wight credited a tennis-like drill in practice for the tough, nasty serves by multiple Skyhawks.

“We get two serves, so your first serve you’re going to serve your hardest, then the second is just to get it in bounds,” Wight said. “Obviously, you’re going to try and get the first one in bounds, and I think that’s what helps us, because we know where we stand with our serves. We know if it’s too hard and too easy, and I think we practice our hard serves enough that those are our consistent ones that we can bring to the game.”

Johns had 13 kills, Eissens spiked 11 to go with two blocks and Richetta added 10 kills and three blocks for Sauk. Brant had eight kills without a hitting error, Putnam County’s Tori Balma dished 18 assists and Stonitsch chipped in 18 assists and eight points. Wight served 11 points (including two aces) and dished four assists and Kobbeman added nine points.

Lynch led Highland with six kills and 11 points (two aces), Miller spiked five kills and Faulkner finished with three kills and a block. Forreston native Brooke Boettner dished 10 assists, Gonnerman added three assists and two kills and Eastland’s Jocelyn Green served an ace.

“It was difficult tonight, and credit to Sauk, because they were guns a-blazin’, firing on all cylinders. It was great volleyball to watch on their part,” Highland coach Aaron Heim said. “We had a lot of things that were just not working for us, and at the end of the day, that’s not our identity by any means. ... It just got away from us just a little bit, and a couple things didn’t go our way. It was just a tough night for us.”