Girls volleyball: Late bursts key in Seneca’s 25-18, 25-15 win over rival Marquette

SENECA — If there happen to be a person in attendance of Thursday’s Tri-County Conference volleyball match between Marquette and Seneca that was unaware of the rivalry, the first point was telling.

The near minute long rally on the opening serve saw both the Crusaders and Fighting Irish take turns making sensational diving plays to keep the ball up and the point alive as large student sections on both sides became louder and louder.

From there the teams battled to 13 ties before the hosts pulled away late for a 25-18 win. Then Seneca broke things open mid-second set with a seven-point run to eventually close out the tilt with a 25-15 triumph.

It was the Fighting Irish’s 11 straight win and improved them to 16-2 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Crusaders, who came into the match winners of five straight and eight of their last nine, fell to 8-5 and 2-2.

Seneca senior Audry McNabb led the way with nine kills, six in the second set, while Lainie Olson recorded 18 assists. Franki Meyers added four kills, Tessa Krull, Graysen Provance, Brooklyn Sheedy three kills apiece and Lauryn Barla a pair of aces.

“It’s a Marquette/Seneca matchup so both teams were ready to play right from the start and it was a great atmosphere to play in,” Seneca coach Noah Champene said. “The crowd was into it, the student sections into it, everyone was amped up and I think that had teams a little off and trying to get emotions in check. Both sides missed a lot of serves and there was some sloppy play, but I think we finally calmed down a little and started getting our serves in and also got into system more smoothly.

“Audry stepped up big for us tonight and just did what she does. Laine did a great job of understanding who had the hot hand and made sure whoever that was got an attack. I really thought our defense, led by Alyssa Zellers, was pretty solid all night long.”

Marquette was led at the net by Kelsey Cuchra (five kills, one block), Makayla Backos (three kills, two aces), and two kills each from Kinley Rick and Avery Durdan.

“We were in and very competitive in the opening set despite missing (five serves) and us not serving the ball where I wanted it to be served,” Marquette coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “We played tough for the first 25 or so points and then we just shut down mentally. Then in the second set we got stuck in a tough rotation and nobody wanted the ball. The final stretches of both sets showed our youth a little, but at some point during this season that can’t an excuse anymore.

“We practiced exactly what Seneca was going to do for several practices and know what we needed to do. When we stuck to that we did very well, but unfortunately, we had stretches late in both sets where we played sloppy and just kind of stalled out.”

With Seneca up 18-16, back-to-back kills by McNabb and another by Provance helped the Irish grab the momentum before a set-point smash by Meyers.

In the second set, a kill by Cuchra had the Cru up 8-7, but Seneca countered with six of the next seven points to push ahead 13-9. A net violation on Marquette brought Seneca’s Sheedy to the service line and her string of seven points — six on Crusaders’ errors and the last on a kill by McNabb extended the lead to 20-11.

McNabb helped close out the set by putting down a trio more kills, with Krull ending the match with a winning swing off an overpass.

“I was thinking all day at school how fun the atmosphere was going to be here tonight,” McNabb said. “I knew our student section was going to be loud and crazy, and I knew the Marquette side was going to be the same way. It was so much fun to play with all that craziness going around us.

“Lainie was on tonight with her passes, but really that seems to be the norm. As a hitter knowing your setter is going to put the ball where you want it 90% of the time lets you just concentrate on looking for a lane and then trying to hit the ball to that opening. A bunch of my teammates are great hitters, so you always have to be ready that any night is going to be your turn to step up. I guess tonight was my night.”

Seneca is next in action on Monday at Reed-Custer. Marquette is off until next Thursday when it hosts Henry-Senachwine.