Consistency key in La Salle-Peru’s two-set win over Morris

LA SALLE – La Salle-Peru volleyball coach Mark Haberkorn felt his team played very consistently Thursday in an Interstate 8 Conference match against Morris.

Morris coach Scott Howell felt his team did not.

The consistent Cavaliers were rewarded with a 25-21, 25-17 victory as they bounced back from their second loss – and first conference loss – of the season Tuesday at Kaneland.

“I thought we played very consistent tonight, offensively and defensively,” Haberkorn said. “I thought we executed on the offense and we were able to have balanced kills on the front line. … Our back row just seems to get the job done night in and night out. We serve very aggressively and that’s a big part of our success.”

Morris made a run late in the first set to make it tight but couldn’t bounce back after L-P took control midway through the second set.

“We were very inconsistent,” Howell said. “We’re a younger team. We’re playing with a lot of juniors and we have a couple sophomores in our lineup. It’s kind of the story of our season this year is we’re very inconsistent. We have moments where we play really consistent and we’re doing what we need to do and we can play with better teams like L-P, but in the moments where it gets tight and we have to fight, we’re just too inconsistent. They’re a great team and they’re very consistent, and that was the difference tonight.”

The first set was tight early until the Cavs made a run with strong play at the net.

Anna Riva put down a kill, Emma Jereb served an ace, Ava Currie had a kill and a block, and Riva slammed down another kill before Currie and Riva teamed up for a block to take a 14-10 lead.

The Cavs extended their lead to as many as seven points before Morris rallied, pulling within two points on four occasions.

A tip by Riva, a Morris error and a Riva kill helped L-P close out the set.

“I think we played really well,” Riva said. “We had a lot of energy during the whole match.

“[When Morris rallied], we just had a group huddle, talked, picked each other up and just had a lot of confidence in each other.”

The second set was tied twice early, but the Cavs never trailed.

L-P grabbed the momentum with a run midway through that pushed a 10-9 lead to an 18-10 advantage.

Currie slammed down three kills during the run, while Drew Depenbrock capped it with a big block.

“We were much more consistent in the first set,” Howell said. “We struggled in the beginning with our serve receive then we figured it out. We started running our offense. We started getting the ball to our hitters and were actually able to put it down. It was great to see. We just started way too late to win that set.

“The second set we lost ourselves again. We got very inconsistent. We really got into our heads, really got shell-shocked and just couldn’t fight back at that point.”

Riva and Aubrey Duttlinger put down seven kills each for L-P (21-2, 5-1 I-8), while Currie had five kills and three blocks. Riva, Duttlinger and Depenbrock had a block each.

Jereb had 14 assists, 10 points and give digs.

“Anna Riva had a great match and Aubrey was on fire,” Haberkorn said. “Ava Currie night in, night out is steady. She works hard and she runs the court well. Kelsey [Frederick] played a very good second set.

“Early in the match, we were getting our hands on balls but we had five early blocking errors. Then we cleaned it up, and I think that was a big factor when we were able to start blocking better. A person who doesn’t get a lot of recognition is Drew Depenbrock. She gets a lot of touches and sets a great block. She’s probably our most improved player this year.”

For Morris (15-10-1, 3-3), Hannah Linn had eight kills and two blocks, Alexis Williams had 23 assists and eight digs, and Alyssa Jepson had 16 digs.