Girls Volleyball: Providence has productive weekend
By Tony Baranek tbaranek@southtownstar.com September 22, 2012 9:42PM
Lincoln-Way East's Sarah Dobrich (9) and Marissa De Groot (11) go up for a block against Lemont's Kiley Rendak during their game in the Rich East volleyball invitational Saturday, September 22, 2012. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 24, 2012 6:32AM
Providence did a lot of things right at the Rich East Invitational to make Celtics coach Rachel Ellingson’s weekend.
There were revenge victories on Saturday over Marian Catholic and, in the Silver division title match, over Lincoln-Way Central.
But there was one particular moment during Set 2 of the 25-23, 25-15 victory against Central that pretty much said it all about the Celtics’ effort.
“Becca Rachke made a lot of amazing digs, but on one she was literally on the floor and spun her whole body around to make a save,” Ellingson said. “All in all, it was a good day.”
Providence (16-5) went 4-1 for the tournament, its only loss a 25-10, 20-25, 25-21 decision to Mother McAuley on Friday.
“This is a tough tournament,” Ellingson said. “To come out 4-1 is a good weekend. This team really played unified. They know their jobs and they have fun doing them.”
In five matches, Krista Brakauskas had 53 assists and 24 kills. Alyssa Maloney (27 kills, 19 blocks), Annie Cummings (23 kills) and Allie Marthaler (57 digs) were also leaders for the Celtics.
Both of Saturday’s matches were played in a similar pattern – battling early and cruising late in a 26-24, 25-14 win over Marian, and in the straight-set victory over Central.
In Set 1 against Central, the Celtics trailed by as much as 13-7, before roaring back to get into a 17-17 tie.
“The last time we played (a two-set loss on Sept. 6) we had too many serving and attack errors,” Ellingson said. “Today we just seemed to make less errors on our side than they did.”
Marthaler led a strong defensive effort against Central with 16 digs. Cummings added seven kills and Rachke six, while Brakauskas had 11 assists and Marisa Dion nine.
Central (12-5) went 3-2 for the weekend, beating Chicago Christian in Saturday’s first match 19-25, 25-18, 25-17.
Lockport (11-4) also was 3-2 for the invite, beating Lincoln-Way East 25-14, 25-22 and Lyons 25-19, 22-25, 25-17 on Saturday to capture the ‘C’ division title.
Lincoln-Way East (14-3) suffered its first losses of the season on Friday and dropped another decision Saturday morning, but rebounded to beat Lemont 25-20, 25-20 in the ‘C’ division third-place match. The Indians (15-9) went 1-4 for the weekend.
Lemont (15-9) dropped four of five matches over the weekend.
