Girls Volleyball: Mother McAuley outlasts Providence
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media September 19, 2012 11:06PM
Alyssa Maloney, of Providence, digs out a shot by McAuley at Mother McAuley, Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 in Chicago, IL. | Gary Middendorf~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 21, 2012 3:05PM
Mother McAuley’s Courtney Joyce doesn’t believe in the concept of a good loss.
So when the Mighty Macs came back late in Wednesday’s second set against Providence only to come up a little short, Joyce and her teammates weren’t focusing on the positives of the comeback.
They were focused on having to play a third set.
“We worked on coming back and everything, but it just wasn’t a good loss,” Joyce said. “We talked about coming out as a different team.”
Mother McAuley dominated the third set, winning 25-21, 26-28, 25-15 over visiting Providence.
Joyce had 27 assists for McAuley (8-0), to go with efforts from Carla Cahill (18 digs), Ryann DeJarld (12 digs, 7 kills), Kelly Clarke (5 kills) and Kelsey Clarke (7 kills).
Alyssa Maloney’s 10 kills paced No. 5 Providence (12-4). Also contributing were Krista Brakauskas (6 kills, 16 assists) and Allie Marthaler (13 digs).
Down 24-20 in the second set, the Macs managed to go up with a 5-0 run that included two Joyce tip-kills. Providence turned things around though, closing on a 4-1 run.
“We never want a match to be close,” Joyce said. “We wanted to come out together (in the third), and it worked. Execution on the hits, and the one-on-one blocks was a huge thing.”
After a back-and-forth first two sets, McAuley left no doubt in the third. The Celtics committed 14 errors in the set while Joyce, Maggie Scanlon and Kelly Clarke dominated at the net.
Scanlon and Clarke combined for two blocks, Clarke adding one solo before Scanlon slammed home the match-winner.
Providence had 13 service errors in the match.
“That’s just not going to win ballgames,” Celtics coach Rachel Ellingson said. “You want to serve aggressive, but late, we just didn’t play as smart as we had been.”
