Girls volleyball: Nazareth Academy sweeps past Joliet Catholic in 2 sets

JOLIET – Nazareth Academy’s girls volleyball team won in two sets Monday against Fenwick, but the Roadrunners were not very happy with how they played.

They had a quick turnaround as they visited Joliet Catholic Academy on Tuesday, and they made amends.

Nazareth (13-13, 3-2 East Suburban Catholic Conference) defeated JCA 25-20, 25-23, rallying from a 23-20 deficit in the second set by scoring the final five points.

Senior Kitty Sandt was crucial throughout the match for the Roadrunners, and she delivered a kill and a block on back-to-back plays to tie the second set at 23 before a pair of hitting errors by the Angels gave the match to Nazareth. Sandt finished with a team-high seven kills.

“It’s fun to get a win here,” Sandt said. “I remember my freshman year, we got beat pretty bad in this building, so this was kind of a redemption for me.

“Everyone played well. We were fiery and had a lot of energy, and that showed on the court. We played [Monday], and it wasn’t our best match. We were kind of up and down. We wanted to come in and redeem ourselves and show that we were capable of starting strong and keeping it up the entire match.”

Nazareth did just that, jumping out to a 4-1 lead that increased to 7-2 on back-to-back kills by Olivia Austin and Sandt, then an ace by Megan McNicholas.

JCA (15-13, 2-3) rallied and tied the score at 12, but Austin and Sandt sandwiched kills around a net violation by the Angels to reclaim a 15-12 lead for Nazareth. JCA got to within 21-20, but Nazareth got a kill by birthday girl Lauren Salata, a kill by Austin, a combined block by Austin and freshman Jane Manecke, and a kill by Manecke to end it.

“It has been a work in progress all season,” Nazareth coach Melissa Masterson said. “We had a tough match against Fenwick on Monday, and to come back less than 24 hours later and play like they did says a lot about these girls.

“Since I have been the coach, this is the first time we have won at JCA. They always have a good program, their student section is loud, so for us to play well here was very good. We play a tough schedule, and matches like this is why. You learn from matches in September so you can play better in October and November.”

The second set was tighter, as JCA grabbed an early 5-4 lead. The score was tied at 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Nazareth got kills by Salata and Austin to take a 12-10 lead. A kill by Austin put Nazareth ahead 15-12 before JCA’s Ava Neuschwander got hot.

Neuschwander had kills on three of the next four serves to pull the Angels to within 16-15, and an ace by teammate Ellie Blotnik tied it at 16. After the teams traded points, Neuschwander delivered the final of her team-high eight kills for an 18-17 lead, and a Jess Horn kill, a Nazareth hitting error and a block by Olivia Chovanec gave the Angels a 21-17 edge. JCA went ahead 23-20 on a kill by Chovanec, her seventh, before Nazareth made its final run.

“We had stretches where we played well, but overall we didn’t rise to the challenge,” JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. “And Nazareth played great. That’s a bad combination. We talk about making the other team earn their points, but we made 50% more errors than they did. We want to still be aggressive, but we have to take care of the ball too.

“Ava Neuschwander always comes to play. She is steady as rain. When we get her the ball, she does her best to do something with it.”