Girls Volleyball: Joliet Catholic tops Providence for regional title
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media October 25, 2012 10:34PM
Joliet Catholic's outside hitter Juliz Shemaitis hits the ball past Providence's Krista Brakauskas. | John Patsch~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 27, 2012 10:52AM
Through the good and the bad on the court, Joliet Catholic’s Morgan Reardon admits she is hard on herself.
So when the outside hitter makes mistakes, you’d better believe she goes about correcting them.
After an uncharacteristic five errors in the second set Thursday night against Providence, Reardon’s offensive explosion in the third set helped Joliet Catholic to a 25-19, 24-26, 25-16 win at the Class 3A Morris Regional final.
“No one likes making errors, so I was disappointed with myself after the second game,” Reardon said. “I knew once that game was over I was going to come out twice as hard.”
Reardon finished with 17 kills for Joliet Catholic (31-6), with Dana Nowaczyk (16 digs), Sarah Adler (17 digs), Mallory Mangun (33 assists) and Julia Shemaitis (8 kills) chipping in. The regional title was the 12th straight title for the Angels.
Krista Brakauskas (15 assists), Allie Marthaler (20 digs), Becca Rachke (6 kills), Lacey Hill (6 kills), Alyssa Maloney (8 kills, 3 blocks) led Providence (25-12).
Having watched Brakauskas score the go-ahead point on a kill and the game-winner on a block in the second set, Reardon took over. She slammed a kill for the first point of the third set, then added five more kills and two service aces as part of a 12-4 run.
“I get in my own head sometimes, and I was able to beat myself (Thursday),” Reardon said with a laugh. “It was sweet to come back and overcome myself a bit.”
Providence trailed by as much as 18-7 but managed to claw back. Getting as close as 20-14, the Celtics saw their own service error and two more Reardon kills close the door on a comeback.
“Joliet Catholic capitalized on our unforced errors,” Providence coach Rachel Ellingson. “The girls fought though tooth and nail to come back, and I’m extremely proud of them. That’s the kind of team I’m proud to coach.”
