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Providence tops Streator for 11th straight Class 3A regional volleyball title · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Providence Top Streeter for eleventh straight, class three a regional volleyball title.
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  Written by Brian Hoxy This article is being read by an automated
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  voice, brought to you by Everlet. After securing a close opening set
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  win in Thursday night's Class 3, a Crete-Money Regional Championship match, the
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  subsectional top-seeded Providence volleyball team got a huge lift from senior Libero
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  Manati Johnson against number 5-seeded Straighter. Johnson reeled off 14 straight point
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  earnings, serves four via aces to begin the sets, and the Celtics
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  went on to post a 25-22-25-7 triumph over the Bulldogs. You don't
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  expect serve runs like that but you dream about them, said Johnson,
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  who finished with five aces and sixteen service points. We work a
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  lot on our serving. It can be a big weapon for us.
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  The key for me is trying to go completely blank in my
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  mind, not think about anything and just serve. After The first couple
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  of serves to start the second set, I just really found a
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  great rhythm and was able to keep my mind clear. I had
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  a few aces during that, but we also were really running a
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  very quick and smooth offense. The first set was a tough one,
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  but I feel like once we were able to win it, we
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  all played a lot better. After its 11th straight three, a regional
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  title and seventh consecutive win, Providence, 31-6, now plays host Washington, 25-11,
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  a two-set winner over host Metamora in the sectional semifinals at 7
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  p.m. Tuesday. The two teams met last year on the came floor
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  in the Super Sectional before the Celtics went on to finish third
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  at state. We know we are going to have a target on
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  our backs with the success we've had this season and in past
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  seasons, Providence coach Lee Ruczynski said. We came out in the first
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  set playing a little nervous, which is very uncharacteristic of us. We
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  had a few errors but also give credit to Streator because the
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  really capitalized on them. I felt like just getting through the first
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  set, let all of the girls take a deep breath, and get
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  settled down. Then Maddie comes out serving like she did, and it
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  just helped everyone relax even more. Streeter, sixteen fifteen five, led the
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  opening set eight seven after aces by Avery Gribbin and Malaya Zavada,
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  as well as a kill and block by Sophia Snow. The Celtics
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  then scored seven of the next eight points, three on consecutive kills
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  by Lily Lipka. An ace by Kate Remlinger gave Providence a 22-15
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  advantage, but a Celtic serving error, a kill by Kinsley Sweden, an
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  ace by Zavada and a block by Snow closed the gap to
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  22-19. From there, kills by Grace Priscalo and Brenna Garrigan helped close
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  out the set, for Providence. We knew what they've done in the
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  past in this season, but we also felt like if we played
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  well we could stay with them, and we proved that in the
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  first set, Streeter Senior Liberal Kennedy Harkeric said. We were playing really
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  well and doing all of the things we needed to do. We
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  came up just short in the first set, and then we just
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  couldn't get a sight out to start the second. It was frustrating
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  and things didn't work out, but I'm proud with how We came
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  here tonight and gave it everything we had. The Celtics were led
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  on the stat sheet by Lipke, 6 kills 3 blocks, Perscalo, 5
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  kills Garrigan, 4 kills and Kennedy Kotowski, 4 kills. Streeter was led
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  by Sweden's three kills, with Gribbon and Ace, Zavada and Snow two
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  blocks, adding two kills each. I thought we played phenomenally in the
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  first set. Streeter coach Julie Gabhart said. We had done a lot
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  of scouting, and the girls executed the game plan really well. We
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  were doing all of the things we talked about needing to do
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  and were right with them. The second set Johnson just got on
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  a roll and we dug ourselves a hole. I could see us
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  getting more and more timid with every serve receive in the second
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  set. I called a timeout about halfway through that run to try
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  and calm the girls down, but Johnson just kept the momentum going
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  for them. We had a great season. The girls have nothing to
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  hang their heads about. They played hard all season, including tonight, and
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  I'm proud of all of them.