Girls volleyball: Seneca snaps streak in 3-set win over Newark

NEWARK – Seneca girls volleyball coach Noah Champene said after Monday’s match against Newark he was curious about how his team’s had fared against the Norsemen in recent history.

“This afternoon I looked back at our matches against Newark,” he said. “Over the last six years, we hadn’t won even one set against them.”

Newark made it 13 straight with a solid 25-15 first-set victory Monday, but the Fighting Irish bounced back to take the final two sets by identical scores of 25-21 to improve to 7-2 on the season. Newark fell to 4-3.

“We struggled right out of the gate not being able to get into any kind of rhythm because of their aggressive serving,” Champene said. “We started to clean that up in the second set and became aggressive ourselves.

“We were able to get in system, and when we can do that, I like our chances.”

Seneca was led by 14 kills, two aces and 12 points by Audry McNabb, six kills each from Brooklyn Sheedy, Franki Myers, and Tessa Krull (three blocks) and three kills from senior setter Lainie Olson, who also recorded 29 assists.

“Lainie did an outstanding job of mixing things up from the outside to the middle to the outside to keep the Newark blockers honest,” Champene said. “Then our hitters in the final two sets hit the ball with confidence.”

Newark’s Adrianna Larson had a huge night with 16 kills, six in the opening set, and nine digs. The Norsemen also received solid performances from Addison Ness (nine kills, three aces, 11 digs), Taylor Jeffers (28 assists) and Elle Norquist (19 digs).

“I knew Seneca is way better than how they played in the first set,” Newark coach PJ McKinney said. “We kind of served them off the floor, but I told my girls before the second set that Seneca was going to come out digging and passing the ball. Noah always has scrappy teams with very smart hitters. In the last two sets, they were hitting the ball to open spots.

“We’re still learning how to win matches like this, matches against teams at or above our level. I have a younger team this year, a couple girls back with varsity court experience, but other than that, first-timers. We are right there as far as winning one of these types of matches.

“We’re going to be OK; it’s a long season.”

Newark jumped to leads of 12-2 and 18-10 in running away with the first set. Seneca broke an 11-all tie in the second set with a 9-4 burst to send the match to a third set.

A block and kill by Krull and three winning swings by McNabb jumpstarted Seneca to a 10-4 advantage. Another kill by McNabb later had the Irish up 16-10. A trio of kills by Ness and one by Larson closed the gap to 17-15.

McNabb then scored the visitors’ final three points on kills to close out the match.

“I have good hitters all around me, and wherever I put it, they do something good with it,” said Olson. “At least for me as a setter, I’m watching how the defense is reacting to what we’re doing. If I see their middle blocker pulling to the outside, I know it’s time for a set to the middle or a dink.

“Our first set was not good, but we are always a little intimidated playing Newark, especially here. They always have very good teams and players, and their tradition speaks for itself. I feel like we went on a little run to start the second set, and you could just feel everyone relax a little bit. From there, I feel we just played the way we are capable.

“It was nice to finally break the losing streak to them.”

Seneca is next in action Thursday at Dwight in a Tri-County Conference match.

Newark returns to the floor Tuesday at Aurora Christian.