La Salle-Peru beats Sterling in straight sets in potential regional final preview

LA SALLE – If La Salle-Peru volleyball coach Mark Haberkorn had his way, the Cavaliers wouldn’t play a potential postseason opponent late in the regular season.

But the Cavs found themselves in a potential regional final preview Monday against Sterling, with L-P winning 25-14, 25-17.

“I’d rather not play them back to back,” Haberkorn said. “I’d rather have some time in between, but at least we have an opportunity to scout them and see them. They’re able to scout us. A lot of things we did tonight, I think our girls will remember in a week rather than [if it was] in a month.”

Sterling coach Dale Dykeman liked the opportunity to get a look at L-P ahead of a potential meeting in the Class 3A Dixon Regional final.

The Cavs are the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of No. 7 Dixon and No. 8 Rochelle at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, while the Golden Warriors are the No. 4 seed and play No. 5 Morris at 7 p.m. Oct. 29.

“Absolutely,” Dykeman said. “You get a little film. Between now and next week you don’t have a lot of tendency changes. You have a season’s worth of film that you can use. Seeing a team like that is good, but we have Morris, who is a really, really good team, in front of them that we have to give our attention to right now. We’re going to take that one at a time.

“We have two more this week to get a little bit better, learn how to execute a little bit better and hopefully get a chance to play L-P in a regional championship.”

On Monday, the Cavs took control midway through both sets.

“I thought we played very quick on offense, and I thought our defense was exceptional tonight,” Haberkorn said. “It seemed like every ball we got a hand on. Our defense was outstanding. We were able to make some great saves and keep the ball in play. Sometimes they don’t always get a lot of credit. Callie Mertes had 10 digs, and Karmen Piano had eight digs. Ruby Davis and Kalli Ware played well. They did an exceptional job reading and digging tonight.

“That’s a big part of being successful is having that back row cover everything, and our setters Carly Garretson and Emma Jereb picked up every tip. When we can get the passes, it makes it a lot easier for us to score.”

Leading 10-9 in the first set, the Cavs went on a 4-1 run that include kills by Ava Currie and Aubrey Duttlinger to take a 14-10 lead.

A kill by Currie and block by Kelsey Frederick kick-started a 6-0 run that pushed the L-P lead to 20-11.

“The passing was really good and really sharp tonight, and that allowed our setters to make good sets and set up our hitters to make hits,” said Frederick, who had back-to-back kills during the decisive run.

In the second set, Currie had back-to-back blocks, and Mertes served back-to-back aces during a 7-1 run that gave the Cavs a 10-4 lead. L-P led by at least four the rest of the way.

“We were slow, a little sloppy and didn’t play to our potential,” said Dykeman, whose team fell to 19-10-4. “A little bit was L-P played fast, and they have some strong hitters, and a little bit was we just didn’t execute as well as we needed to compete with a team of that caliber. When you come into a gym and you don’t give a team like L-P your full attention and play to your full ability, you get ran off the floor fast like what happened tonight.

“Hopefully the lessons we learn is attention to detail and execution gives you a better chance.”

Early in the match, Sterling’s Delali Amankwa broke the school record for career assists, surpassing the 2,091 set by Bree Borum, who played on the Golden Warriors’ back-to-back state title teams in 2018 and 2019.

“It means a lot,” Amankwa said. “I’ve had a lot of dynamic hitters over the years, some great liberos, great teammates and great coaches who have all helped me to get here. I’m really appreciative.”

For L-P (26-5), Duttlinger had eight kills and a block, Anna Riva put down seven kills, Currie and Frederick each had five kills and two blocks, and Jereb had 10 assists.

L-P won the sophomore match 25-22, 25-18 and swept the freshman level with the Red team winning 25-18, 18-25, 25-11 and the Green team winning 25-17, 25-13.