Girls volleyball: Pontiac powers past short-handed Streator in straight sets

STREATOR – The beginning was great, and the rally at the end was gutsy. In between, however, visiting Pontiac was mostly in control of a 25-19, 25-23 triumph over the Streator Bulldogs in nonconference girls volleyball action Wednesday at Pops Dale Gymnasium.

“Overall, I’m not really disappointed,” Streator coach Julie Gabehart said. “[Pontiac] is one the better teams we’re going to see this year.

“Great competition for us, and it’ll only help us moving forward into our conference schedule.”

The Bulldogs (4-3-2) scored the evening’s initial four points – three coming on kills courtesy of Sophia Snow, Aubrey Jacobs and Shaelyn Groesbeck – and led by as many as five points early. Pontiac (5-2), however, quickly settled in, catching its hosts at 10-10, then taking the lead on a six-point service run by Layla Pullman.

Streator had an answer of its own, catching the Indians at 16-16 on an Emma Rambo service point, 17-17 on a Rambo second-hit shoot and 18-18 thanks to a Jacobs kill. Pontiac finished with a flurry, however, using a Sophia Karr kill and then a back-to-back kill/stuff block combination from Alix Robinson to retake control and pull away for the first-set victory.

“We started out slow,” Pontiac coach Abby Mays said. “They’re getting a lot thrown at them – young team‚ new coaching staff, all new things – but they’re adjusting, and it’s all coming together. It’s just taking a little time.”

After falling behind early in the second set, the Bulldogs used three multipoint service runs from Rambo, Groesbeck and Maiya Lansford – Rambo and Groesbeck’s including aces, Lansford’s powered by a pair of Ava Gwaltney kills – to build a slight lead in the middle-going. Three straight aces served by Pontiac’s Sadie Moreno returned the lead to the Indians, however, and the visitors’ advantage reached 24-20 before a late Streator rally on Rambo’s turn at the line got the Bulldogs to within one little point, 24-23.

“I was really proud of the girls,” Gabehart said. “They dug themselves into a hole that last one and made it a match. They didn’t quit, they made the adjustments I asked them to make, and they made it a game.

“I told them, I was really proud of the way that they fought.”

The escalating tension and drama ended with a whimper, though, when Robinson’s seemingly match-point kill was initially waved off when an official mistook it for an illegal attack by a back-row player. While Streator celebrated the briefly tied score, Robinson and the Pontiac bench pointed out she was not, in fact, a back-row player in that rotation. The official reversed his call, awarding the Indians the point instead of the Bulldogs and ending the match.

That winner gave Robinson a match-best eight kills on the night, with teammate Trinity Miller a thorn in Streator’s left-side defense to the tune of six more kills.

For the Bulldogs – without senior leader Sonia Proksa for the second straight match – Jacobs (six assists, five kills), Rambo (three aces, seven digs, four assists, four kills), Lansford (six digs), Gwaltney (five digs, two kills) and Snow (two kills, two blocks) led the attack.

Streator visits Reed-Custer for an Illinois Central Eight Conference match Thursday.