La Salle-Peru volleyball’s winning streak ends in regional final

GENESEO — When seeding was done for the postseason, the La Salle-Peru volleyball team’s record was sitting at a match under .500.

Shortly after that, the Cavaliers began to click.

The Cavs rattled off 11 consecutive victories to end the regular season and extended it to 12 in the Class 3A Geneseo Regional semifinals.

“All of a sudden, everything seemed to fall right in line,” L-P coach Mark Haberkorn said. “We won a few here, won a few there, we got confidence, and we just got on a run.”

L-P’s streak came to an end Thursday, as the No. 5-seeded Cavs lost 26-24, 25-19 to No. 2 Rock Island in the Geneseo Regional final.

“I thought we played very well in set one,” Haberkorn said. “We just made some crucial errors and mistakes at times we were making runs. It seemed like every time we got a little momentum, we made a little mistake here or an error there. And we still almost won set one. We played well enough in set one to win.

“Set two, it was even until about the second half, and they just got the momentum at the end. They played well. They played consistent all night. We had opportunities, but they just got the momentum and finished the match.”

In the opening set, the Cavs took the lead at 2-1 and built a 9-4 lead, but the Rocks kept cutting into the deficit. L-P held Rock Island off until the Rocks tied it at 16 on a kill by Kayla Rice and took their first lead since 1-0 on a kill by Quinci Bumgarner.

The set was tied at 18, 19, 20, 21, 23 and 24 before a kill by Rice and an ace by Sienna Mikaio gave the first set to the Rocks.

“I think we were nervous, but we played really hard,” L-P junior Addison Urbanski said. “It just didn’t fall our way.”

The second set was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than two points until Rice stepped to the line with Rock Island up 19-17.

Rice served the Rocks to a 24-17 lead with a run that included an ace and four kills.

“I thought their serving was outstanding,” Haberkorn said. “I thought they kept us out of getting into our offense because of their serving. They were very aggressive, and we were out of system a lot, which gave them an advantage.

“Their hitters kept us out of sync and scrambling, which was a problem for us.”

Urbanski had 11 assists, seven points, two kills and a block for L-P, while Emma Garretson put down seven kills. Taylor Martyn added 11 digs and 10 points.

The Cavaliers, who finish the season 23-12, lose seniors Garretson, Martyn, Lily Ficek, Brooklyn Ficek, Olivia Shetterly, Jayden Dyke, Adrianna Knowles and Camryn Piscia.

At the lower levels, the L-P sophomore team went 25-9 overall and 11-3 in the Interstate 8 Conference. The freshman red team was 31-3 overall and 14-0 in the conference, and the freshman green team was 18-12 overall and 12-2 in the conference.

“I’m very proud of this team,” Haberkorn said. “We were at 9-10 when we seeded for the postseason. We could have stayed right there at .500 all year. But at the end of the season, we went on a 12-match winning streak. That tells you about the character of this team.

“We dug in and turned a .500 team into a 23-12 record. That speaks volumes for the team.”