Volleyball: St. Bede shakes off slow start to beat Bureau Valley

PERU - St. Bede volleyball coach Kaitlyn Edgcomb has had trouble with slow starts so far this season. Monday’s nonconference match against Bureau Valley was no exception.

There were eight ties and seven lead changes midway through the first set.

Senior setter Sadie Koehler provided a spark with a big service run as the Bruins pulled away in the first set and took control early in the second on the way to a 25-19, 25-15 victory.

“I thought it started off pretty slow,” Edgcomb said. “That’s usually how most of our games start, but they really dig deep and find ways to excel in their positions and work as a team. That’s been our struggles, but we always find a way to get it together and put the ball away.”

Koehler stepped to the service line with the Bruins trailing 14-13 in the first set and rattled off nine consecutive points to give St. Bede a 22-14 lead.

“I like zone serving, and I’m able to move the ball to where people aren’t when I serve,” Koehler said. “(The key to the run was) working as a team, really focusing on our back row and our hitters being available.”

Koehler put an exclamation point on her run with back-to-back aces.

“Sadie is definitely our toughest server,” Edgcomb said. “She can really hit the spots well that she needs to. I think she only missed one zone during that run, so that was a really clutch thing for her to do. She is really relaxed behind the line, which really benefits her and her serve.”

Bureau Valley coach Saige Barnett said the Storm will put an emphasis on serve-receive in practice.

“We serve-received well (early in the first set),” Barnett said. “That was the difference between when we were playing well and in it and when we weren’t. End of story. Serve-receive is the basis of everything, and if we can’t do that well, we’re going to struggle no matter who is on the other side of the net.

“We have a long week. We have three more games on the schedule. We’re going to serve-receive (Tuesday) at practice. The girls are going to come in ready to work, I don’t doubt that, but we need to translate it into games.”

Koehler got the Bruins off to a strong start in the second set as well, as she dumped the ball over the net for the first point, which sparked a 7-2 opening run that led to a Storm timeout.

The Bruins never led by less than three the rest of the way and led by as many as 12 points.

“They really came together in that second set,” Edgcomb said. “They weren’t doing anything easy for them tipping-wise. They were being aggressive at the net swinging.”

Koehler finished with 15 assists and three aces.

“This was probably her best game of the season,” Edgcomb said. “Bureau Valley always is a pretty tough team to beat, so we went in and everyone was a little nervous, but she really relaxed tonight and did what she needed to do.”

Ashlyn Ehm put down seven kills to lead the St. Bede attack, while Lily Bosnich had five kills. Quinn McClain added three kills.

“I think we did pretty good offensively,” Koehler said. “I really like focusing on setting to my middles, so we run a lot of stuff so I can get it to them even if I’m off the net. My outsides are always prepared to get the ball too.”