Sterling teams up with Rock Island for good cause, but falls to Rocks in 3-set thriller

ROCK ISLAND – Sterling volleyball fell to Rock Island in a three-set thriller as the two programs teamed up for a good cause.

With both teams wearing shades of pink during breast cancer awareness month, Sterling fell 18-25, 25-21, 25-23 on Thursday night at Rock Island Fieldhouse.

The Golden Warriors (17-9-4, 4-7 Western Big 6 Conference) lost in three sets in conference play for the second time this week after also losing to Quincy on Tuesday. The Rocks improved to 6-12 and 5-6 in conference.

There was a bake sale, $400 was raised during the match, and Sterling recognized Rock Island assistant coach Lauren Moe with a gift before the match. She lost her mom to breast cancer at the end of last season.

“[Sterling coach] Dale [Dykeman] reached out to me and said that he had something for her,” Rock Island coach Alax Battin said. “It’s really sweet to see the volleyball community come together. At the end of the day, we are different high schools and rivals and things like that, but we all support each other. So it was good to see them come in and support this night as well.”

“It’s just nice to be a part of that,” Dykeman said.

In the teams’ last matchup this season, it was Sterling that won in three sets.

Sterling took control early en route to winning the first set Thursday, as Marley Sechrest and Carley Sullivan each had two aces in the first 10 points. Sterling did not lead in the second set, pushing the deficit to 23-21 before Rocky closed it out.

In the deciding third set, Sterling had the lead until it was nip-and-tuck down the stretch. Tied at 20, 21, 22 and 23, Rocky got a block for match point, and Sterling did not have a response.

“In the second and third set, just far too many errors,” Dykeman said. “We had three team kills in an entire set that second one. So the offense is nowhere near where it needed to be.

“Double-digit errors to a team that’s decent, you’re going to lose by two. We just weren’t good enough tonight.”

Dykeman said the defense played “phenomenal,” however.

“We ran great system defense,” he said. “The offense struggled.”

Dykeman said things were the opposite in Tuesday’s loss to Quincy.

“We had 42 team kills against Quincy,” he said. “We leave here tonight with like 22 or 23. Our offense was much more productive against a better blocking team. Tonight, for some reason, our hitters were off.”

In the final stretch of the season, Dykeman hopes to see more consistency.

“Maintaining the highs and minimizing the lows,” he said. “That’s kind of what we’re looking for.”

Sterling’s Delali Amankwa inched closer to the team’s assist record after eclipsing 2,000 over the weekend. She had 21 assists against Rock Island to get to 2,032 career assists. She is on track to break Bree Borum’s program record of 2,091 assists with five regular-season matches and the postseason left.

Coach Battin said both teams showed up in a competitive match between teams in the middle of the Big 6 standings. She said the team has figured out its lineup since the last time they met.

“I think these girls came out strong,” she said. “I know we saw a couple different girls play this time that we didn’t see play last time.”

Battin said the main focus was to slow down Sterling’s outside hitters. Down the stretch, she thought fatigue set in for both teams as the match came down to the wire to make for a late night.

“I think towards the end, you could kind of see that both teams were getting really tired,” she said. “I think it was just like, who could last in a longer rally at the end of the night?”