Girls volleyball: Marquette’s height too much for Gardner-South Wilmington

GARDNER – It would be one thing if Cinderella had to slip past just one tall, lanky, evil stepsister to get to the ball, but getting by six or seven of those nasty siblings? Finding that glass slipper just wasn’t going to happen.

The Marquette volleyball squad used depth, length and superior height to keep underdog No. 10 seed Gardner-South Wilmington at arm’s length throughout the Class 1A regional championship Thursday night, with the No. 1 seed Crusaders taking a solid 25-18, 25-15 decision to win the title.

Senior Lilly Craig’s seven kills led six players with four or more kills, and setters Maera Jimenez and Kealey Rick registered 17 and 15 assists, respectively, in the win.

The decision gives MA (30-6) its second straight regional crown and third in the past five years heading into Monday’s 6 p.m. Woodland Sectional semifinal against Lexington. The Miniutemaids topped Milford 25-13, 25-16 in their own regional finale.

Gardner-South Wilmington, which had won five matches in a row prior to Thursday, finishes a 9-21.

“We definitely spread around the attack tonight, and that’s been the key to our success all year,” Marquette coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “We don’t have to rely on one person; we have several who can do a good job. The setters did a good job mixing it up tonight, and I give our girls a ton of credit. They came out swinging and did a nice job. The defense was there tonight, too, so this was definitely a team effort.

“Give Gardner a lot of credit. They’re good defensively and brought a lot of balls up that most teams wouldn’t. They fought for every single point, and you could see they came out fired up. … but we relaxed ourselves after a tense start. Once we got going, we were fine.”

“I give our girls a ton of credit. They came out swinging and did a nice job. The defense was there tonight, too, so this was definitely a team effort.”

—  Mindy McConnaughhay, Marquette girls volleyball coach

A five-point streak by Jimenez gave MA a 9-5 edge in the opening set, but tough back-row defense and good serving pulled the hosts back to within 9-7 and 14-13, the latter on a kill by Maddie Olson and an ace by freshman Olivia Siano.

But from there, Marquette got kills from freshman Anna Hjerpe and senior Avery Durdan. Those two closed the set with kills around another by Craig.

In the second set, a sideout kill by Durdan and eight straight service points by Rick opened up a 9-1 Cru lead.

True to form, Gardner-South Wilmington came back. Addi Fair hammered a sideout kill followed by three aces that, with another Olson blast, sliced the home deficit to three.

But that’s when the clock struck midnight for the Panthers. A Hjerpe kill, Nora Rinearson’s four straight points and kills by Craig and Durdan made it 18-8. Another Craig slam and a four-point, two-ace string by Maisie Lyons suddenly spread the lead to 23-9.

After Craig’s seven kills, Jimenez, Durdan and Hjerpe each tagged six, and Makayla Backos and Mary Lechtenberg four each. Backos, Lyons and Emma and Nora Rinearson each netted a team-best five digs.

For the Panthers, Fair finished with six kills and five points, and Olsen five kills, while Siano led Gardner-South Wilmington with eight points, five on aces.

“You don’t see a 1 seed playing a 10 seed for a regional championship very often, so this is something to be proud of, you know,” Gardner-South Wilmington coach Sue Avery said. “We knew coming in Marquette would be a good team. They having fewer than 10 losses this year and having the height they have, but I told my girls, ‘If you show up and play, it’s going to be a good game,’ and they sure did.

“Everyone can see we don’t have much size – my tallest player is 5′ 8″ – so we throw a block up when we can, but we have to play good defense. The girls take a lot of pride in it, and other coaches compliment our defense. … It’s just tough when the other team has a whole bench capable of starting.”