Girls volleyball: Ottawa wins 3-set thriller on La Salle-Peru’s senior night

LA SALLE – Volleyball regionals don’t begin until next week, but a loud crowd, a fierce rivalry and a spectacular back-and-forth match made for a playoff atmosphere Tuesday evening in Sellett Gym as Ottawa avenged a loss from earlier this season and knocked off La Salle-Peru on the Cavaliers’ senior night 25-18, 17-25, 25-20.

“Our girls just really wanted to come in and win it, you know?” Pirates coach Jenn Crum said. “It’s a big game for them, a big game for our seniors, and I just feel like they showed up ready to go. We’ve been showing more resilience here lately than we have in the past, and that really showed up here tonight in the third set. ...

“That’s the goal, right, to prepare for regionals, and when you have a competition like this it helps both teams.”

Ottawa moves to 25-8-1 overall, 5-4 in the Interstate 8 Conference. L-P drops to 28-6, 6-4.

“The last point, I knew it was all or nothing. Just being out here with my teammates, playing L-P one last time in this gym, it’s just honestly the best feeling in the world.”

—  Olivia Evola, Ottawa girls volleyball

The Cavaliers (28-6 overall, 6-4 Interstate 8) celebrated the program’s 10 seniors. Five of them led L-P statistically, including Addison Duttlinger (nine kills, seven digs), Kaylee Abens (11 digs), Ava Lambert (three kills), Addison Urbanski (seven kills, 10 digs, 19 assists) and libero Marissa Sanchez (34 digs).

Once things got going, however, it was Ottawa celebrating. The Pirates (25-8-1, 5-4) built a 10-5 lead on a long service run from Ryleigh Stevenson and led throughout the opening set. Helping the visitors’ cause was a handful of unusual L-P errors – including multiple line violations and four-hit calls – something that would rear its head again late in the third set.

“Set 1 we had a lot of unforced errors, and we started really, really slow,” L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. “And also at the end there, we seemed to struggle for the last four or five points. Until then, we played well, real well. ...

“It’s not just one match, [it’s] a season. We’re 28-6, and our seniors have done a fantastic job this year. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort they give us on and off the court with their leadership. Can’t say enough about our seniors, and it’s going to be tough to see them go.”

Much like Ottawa in the opener, La Salle-Peru led throughout the second set, with Urbanski, sophomore Kelsey Fredrick (five kills) and junior Ava Currie (three kills, three blocks) putting down key points down the stretch.

That led to a third set in the seesaw affair. Ottawa led 13-9 on another long Stevenson service run just to see L-P take a commanding 17-13 advantage behind a seven-point Urbanski trip to the line that featured a kill and a block from Lambert as well as kills from Duttlinger and Currie.

The Cavaliers continued to lead as late as 20-17 before the Pirates – again aided by some uncharacteristic L-P errors – scored the night’s final eight points to stun the hosts. Senior libero Reese Burgwald served the final seven of those points and assisted primary setter Olivia Evola on the set-point winner.

“The last point, I knew it was all or nothing,” Evola said. “Just being out here with my teammates, playing L-P one last time in this gym, it’s just honestly the best feeling in the world.”

Burgwald’s 18 digs, Evola’s two-ace, 10-dig, 12-assist performance, Chey Joachim’s six kills, Ayla Dorsey’s five kills, Skylar Dorsey’s nine assists, Ella Damron’s four kills and Stevenson’s team-high 11 kills to go with five digs led the Pirates.