Volleyball: Makayla McNally, Serena outlast Somonauk in LTC play

SERENA – On a night that saw the Somonauk and Serena volleyball teams take turns being very good, and then not so good, the host Huskers found their rhythm during the middle of the third set.

With the deciding set tied 4-all, a three-point service spurt by Makayla McNally started Serena on a game-changing burst in which they scored 15 of the next 17 points on the way to a 25-15, 14-25, 25-15 Little Ten Conference victory over the Bobcats on Al Stegman Court.

“The entire break before the third set we talked in our huddle about staying focused and getting our energy back up to the level it was at in the first set,” McNally said. “We knew Somonauk was going to play tough, and they showed that in the second set. Along with energy, we just didn’t communicate as well as we should have in the second set, and I think it showed.”

McNally finished with a match-best eight kills, three blocks, two aces and nine points to help Serena stay unbeaten at 5-0 in conference play and 6-5 overall. The Huskers also received six kills, a block, 11 points and 11 digs from Paisley Twait and three kills each from Kendall Whiteaker and Jenna Setchell. They got 25 digs from Isabella Erpenbach, five digs from RayElle Brennan and two kills and 15 assists from setter Macy Mahler.

“I thought everyone on the team played well, but our back row was really good,” McNally said. “Isabella, Hannah [McNelis], RayElle and Paisley back there have really started to click for us. As a blocker, my job is to try and get a hand on attacks to slow the ball down for them, but a lot of times tonight they were just digging up balls on clean hits which was very impressive to watch.”

In the first set that featured seven ties, Serena used a six-point run by Twait, which included three kills and a block from McNally, then four points from McNally to close things out.

“We mixed some things up a little bit lineup-wise to start things tonight after not playing very well at Putnam County [Monday] night and things worked well,” Serena coach Jennifer Shugrue said. “Then we went back to what had been our normal and no one was talking, and we just weren’t playing well again. In the third set I mixed things up a little more and it was better.

“I just told them before the third set that it was up to them as players to get things back on track and they responded. It was just one of those nights where we were pretty good for stretches but not as consistent as we need to be moving forward. This was a win, so we’ll take it, but at times it wasn’t pretty.”

In the second set, Somonauk had a 12-8 lead before a five-point run by Riley Snider that included a kill by Josie Rader and three straight winning swings from Aubrey Chiavario put the Bobcats in control. Back-to-back winners by Snider and Haley McCoy closed out the set to send the match to a rubber set.

Chiavario had six kills, a block and an ace for Somonauk, while Rader, Addie Britt and McCoy recorded three kills each. Rader and Snider each had eight points, while McCoy had a team-high 19 digs.

“We can be scrappy when we need to be, but tonight we were a completely different team that beat a very good Indian Creek team in two sets last week,” said Somonauk coach Christy Pruski, her team now 5-5 overall and 2-3 in LTC play. “We were out of position a lot tonight and that’s really the first time all season that we’ve had that happen. I thought we were pretty strong at the net, had good passing and were solid in serve receive for the most part, especially in the second set where I felt we had Serena on the defensive.

“Aubrey had a great match for us, but we unfortunately had a bad stretch there in the middle of the third set and just could overcome it.”

Both squads next host LTC home matches, Somonauk against LaMoille on Wednesday and Serena taking on Hinckley-Big Rock on Thursday.