Knights still in hunt for MSC Blue title.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The IC Catholic Prep girls volleyball team kept itself in the Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division title picture with a recent 14-25, 25-14, 25-15 win over Illiana Christian.
Nailah Landon had 13 kills and one block. Maya Stovall had nine kills, four aces and one block. Bella Leslie had 16 digs and one ace. Kristen Brachmann had two kills, one block and two aces. Sophie Hurt had 27 assists, three kills, eight digs and one block. Kaya Hood had four kills and two blocks, while Josie Lytton had one kill, two blocks and eight digs.
The win moved the Knights to 9-7 overall and 6-3 in MSC Blue play.
“We’ve been playing a little stronger our last four or five matches,” IC Catholic Prep coach Nancy D’Amore said late last week. “Some of the super-close matches we had been dropping before, we’re finding ways to close those out now, which is a good sign.”
D’Amore noted the recent acceleration on the floor has to do with three freshmen players on the team becoming used to the varsity game.
“It’s time,” she said. “We have three freshmen on the court and we knew it would take some time to build chemistry. We were starting from scratch with half the players on the floor and one is running our offense. It was just a matter of time of them being on the court together and figuring each other out and learning each other’s tendencies. It’s been a natural thing that has happened.”
D’Amore has been particularly pleased with one of the program’s staples—defense.
“Typically we get better and better with ball control,” she said. “Our defense is improving. Bella Leslie, our libero, is getting better and better every match. She is learning the game. She has good reads on the ball and is an aggressive defender.”
D’Amore has seen other areas take a step forward as well. “The experience we are gaining is helping,” she said. “We’re working a lot on getting our middle attack more involved every time we are on the court. We’re always working on our outside attack, which has been up and down at times. In volleyball you live and die by your outsides. We haven’t gotten to a good place of consistency with it yet, but we sure are working on it.”
The coach also likes the varied contributions she receives throughout her roster. “Every match someone else steps up. It’s always someone different,” D’Amore said. “We’re not depending on one person. Sophie Hurt is doing well setting for us. Her timing and confidence are getting stronger every day. She’s learning to lead and that’s difficult being a freshman setter. Kristen Brachmann is our freshman middle who is a workhorse. She gives 100 percent on the court and does a little bit of everything for us. Her presence is always known. Maya Stovall and Nailah Landon are productive for us on the outside and Kaya Hood is our other freshman middle and is learning the varsity speed and the varsity aggressiveness. Every match it is someone different for us.”
D’Amore predicted in the preseason that the MSC Blue would be competitive and she wasn’t kidding.
“The conference is literally up for grabs,” she said. “It is all over the board. Someone beats someone one night and then that team gets beat the next night. At one point there were four or five teams that were in the hunt for first or second place with almost identical records. I think now it’s Riverside-Brookfield, Glenbard South and us who have taken a one or two match step away from the rest of the pack. We’re still definitely in the hunt. That’s nice for us. It’s something tangible for the girls to work toward. We haven’t been in the hunt for the conference title since we joined the MSC. Usually we go through the season and we want to get better every day so when we hit postseason we are playing our best. Now these conference matches mean something. We’re in it to win it. We know there is a potential title on the line and that’s what we want.”
