Girls volleyball: Team effort leads Minooka past JCA

MINOOKA – It has become an annual early-season measuring stick for both teams, and Wednesday’s girls volleyball match between Joliet Catholic Academy and Minooka provided plenty of highlights on both sides of the net. In the end, however, Minooka had more of those types of plays and came away with a 25-19, 25-22 win.

The Indians (4-2) got contributions from up and down the roster, led by junior setter/right side hitter Kendall Kozak. The lefty delivered 10 assists to go with five kills, while Ella Carlson added five kills. Libero Kira Cailteux had a team-high 10 digs, while sophomore Courtney Walter had two kills, two blocks and two aces.

“This is always one of the biggest matches of the year for us,” Kozak said. “It feels great to win it. Playing against a team like JCA really lets you know where you are as a team and what you need to work on. We have a young team, and I am proud of them for coming through the way they did.

“Most of these girls had never experienced a big crowd like this, and everyone who got on the floor contributed. We did a good job of not getting down when we lost a point. We just went on to the next one and focused on what we needed to do.”

JCA (1-2) got off to a strong start, taking a 10-7 lead in the first set after a kill by Olivia Chovanec, who led the Angels with five kills. Minooka countered with four straight points, a string started by a Kozak kill, to move ahead 11-10. After a tie at 14, the Indians reeled off eight straight points, including kills by Kozak and Addison Ciesielski, a pair of aces by Kennedy Walker and a block by Charlotte Matejka, to make it 22-14. JCA pulled to within 23-17 on a kill by Brooke Simon, but Minooka eventually ended the set with a kill by Walter.

“We really played well together as a team,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “All of the girls get along really well, and we use everyone. I was most proud of the fact that we were down a couple of times, but we came back. For a young team like us – we only have one senior starting – that’s a big thing.

“We can mix things up pretty well. We have a lot of good hitters, and we can run a one or two-setter offense, so teams can’t really try to stop one thing.”

In the second set, JCA again started strong, moving out to a 13-10 lead before Minooka began to turn the tide again. A kill by Carlson got it to 13-11, and Walter served four straight points to put the Indians ahead 15-13. JCA rallied to take a 19-17 lead, using a pair of kills by Chovanec sandwiched around a kill by Dalani Kirstein and an ace by Ella Godeaux to gain the advantage. Minooka, however, did not flinch and reeled off the next seven points, getting kills from Kozak, Ciesielski and Jerzie Caves, to take a 24-19 lead. The Angels tried to rally all the way back, getting kills from Simon and Olivia Emerson and a hitting error by Minooka to pull to within 24-22, but the match ended on a JCA hitting error.

“We had some flashes of good play,” JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. “But, we had more flashes of not-so-good play. We have to work on being more consistent. We know that every team we play is going to give us their ‘A’ game. We know we have a target on our backs when we walk into the gym, and we have to be ready to go from the start and stay focused.

“It’s still early in the season, and we are still working on what combinations work for us. So far, we have played Mother McAuley, Bradley-Bourbonnais and Minooka. Playing competition like that will help us down the road. Again, we had some good moments, but we need to have them more consistently.”