Morris volleyball cruises to win over Ottawa

MORRIS — After playing nearly a perfect game in the first game against Ottawa on Thursday night, the Morris volleyball team had to come from behind in the second to claim a 25-10, 25-23 nonconference win.

Morris (12-11-1) did not have a single service error in the first set and kept the hitting errors to a minimum as well. The Redskins jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead in the strength of six straight service points from Abby Bruyn and never looked back in the opener. Senior Calleen Soper was dominant from the start, recording three of her match-high 11 kills in the opening blitz. She soon added another as Morris took an 11-4 lead. The Redskins kept the points coming, and Soper recorded kills on the final two points of the first set.

"That first set was about as good as we can play," Morris coach Taylor Lafond said ."We didn't have any serving errors and not many hitting errors, either. It's a lot easier when you aren't giving points away."

Ottawa (7-16) put up a much tougher fight in the second set, as it was tied at 2, 3, 4, and 5 before Morris pulled ahead, 11-7. Ottawa, however, rallied to tie it at 11. After ties at 12, 13, 15 and 16, Ottawa got five straight service points from Jenna Nink to take a 21-16 lead.

Morris countered with the front line combination of Soper and Hali Finn. A kill by Soper made it 21-17 and a kill by Finn pulled Morris to within 21-18. The two combined for a block to make it 21-19 before a Soper kill cut the lead to 21-20. Following a timeout, Ottawa got a point on a hitting error, but Soper got Morris the serve back with a kill and an Ottawa hitting error on Soper's serve tied the set at 22. Ottawa took a 23-22 lead on a sideout, but Finn recorded two straight kills for Morris before Olivia Schultz ended the match with an ace.

"This was a real fun match," said Finn, who finished with five kills and two blocks. "We were all positive and just had a lot of fun on the court tonight. It felt good to have the ball coming to me late. I like the pressure.

"I don't really think about what the situation or the score is. If the ball is there, I just hit it. We all go all out on every ball."

Ashley Hood became the school's all-time assist leader, as her 21 assists gave her an even 1,500 for her career, topping the total of 1,497 set by Katie Chatten. Hood also had six kills, an ace and eight digs. Bruyn had two kills and an ace, while Paige Valentine contributed five digs.

"It all started with our passing," Lafond said. "Our passers did a great job. Paive Valentine, Olivia Schultz, Anna Thomas and Krista Runchey all played great.

"We needed a match like this to help us regroup. We had a tough stretch of games against Yorkville, Kaneland and DeKalb and that takes a toll mentally. We had fun tonight and seemed to get back into a groove."