Girls Volleyball: Minooka outlasts Oswego
By Paul Johnson For Sun-Times Media October 4, 2012 10:58PM
Updated: November 6, 2012 6:23AM
Minooka coach Chris Hoelscher knew she had a talented player on her hands in Skyler Day, but she was waiting for the day when Day took over.
Thursday night, Hoelscher saw the performance she was looking for from Day.
In an 18-25, 25-17, 25-22 Southwest Prairie Conference win at Oswego, Day put down a dominating 24 kills.
“Skyler is a phenomenal athlete,” Hoelscher said. “The last two years, we’ve had one big go-to outside hitter. Skyler has that capability. She just hasn’t taken that on her shoulders yet. She’s had nice matches, but what she did (Thursday) was great. Everybody in the gym knew she was getting the ball, and she put it away. She hadn’t done that yet so far this season. She’s making her own name for herself.”
After the two teams split the first two sets, Day dominated the start of the third. Day had eight kills in the first nine points as the Indians built a 12-3 lead. But the lead didn’t last, as Oswego (10-14, 3-7) crept back. Blocks by Jessica Johnson and Jordan Campbell and an ace from Jenny Greenwood cut the lead to 16-15, forcing a Minooka timeout. Later in the set, a Katelyn Burke kill tied it at 22, but kills by Bailey Sachtleben, Day and Brenna Perinar closed out the win for the Indians (11-6, 7-3).
“We had to refocus,” Day said after dropping the first set. “We had a great comeback. We had a lot of focus. I think we came out here with a lot of energy. We know we have good competition. They’re a great team. We had to come out here and get a big win.”
Oswego came out strong at the outset, putting together a solid run in the middle of the first set and holding on for a 25-18 win.
“Usually we don’t win game one, we were super excited,” Lorenz said. “We played well in Game 1. We came out in Game 2 kind of flat and were down eight. We worked our way back in there, but when you get down by that much, it’s hard to work your way back in.”
Minooka jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the second set and never was threatened again until late in the third.
“The tempo of the game got really fast and we got out of control,” Hoelscher said. “When we met before game two, we always say we’re going three now. Just control yourselves and get back into it, and they came out like gangbusters and away we went.”
