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Ottawa connects, tops Rochelle 25-21, 25-18 · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Ottawa Connects, Tops Rochelle 2521-2518. Written by
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  Brian Hoxy This article is being read by an automated voice, brought
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  to you by Everlet. The Ottawa girls volleyball team took what they've
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  talked about the past few days onto the court in Tuesday's Interstate
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  Eight conference match against Rochelle at Kingman Gymnasium. I really felt like
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  we connected well as a team. Ottawa senior setter Ashlyn Gannieri said,
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  We talked yesterday in practice and today before the match of how
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  we have been playing a little like three separate teams, defense, setting,
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  and hitting. We talked about getting back to playing as a unit,
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  and I thought we did a good job of that tonight. The
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  Pirates used a half dozen mini spurts throughout the match to keep
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  the visiting hubs at arm's length in a 25-21-2518 triumph. Ottawa
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  improved to 12-21 and 1-8 in league play, while Rochelle dropped to
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  9-20 and 1-8. Like Ashlyn said, we've talked a lot about connecting
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  as a unit, Ottawa coach Christina Correy said, not playing separately as
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  a back row and front row but playing as a group. I
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  thought tonight our transition from defense to offense was pretty seamless for
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  the most part. When a team plays as a unit, the chances
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  for more runs and consecutive points goes way up. I think we
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  showed that tonight I think we played a very solid match in
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  every aspect. But the biggest key for us was not making very
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  many unforced errors. That's something that has hurt us this season. But
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  tonight we did a good job of making the plays when they
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  were there to make. Ottawa was led on the stat sheet by
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  Bella Gnoll, 5 kills, 2 blocks, Keelan Gross, 2 kills, Lila Platt,
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  2 kills, Meredith Waldron, 4 digs, Savannah Markey, 6 digs, 8 service
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  points, Haley 3 Thrush, 12 points, Libby Muffler, 2 blocks, and Ghanier,
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  6 assists, 2 kills, 8 digs. I tore my left labrum, and
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  I had to sit out like eight matches earlier in the season,
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  Ganieri said. I'll have to have surgery on it sometime, but right
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  now I'm just getting it taped up and playing through it. Ashlyn
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  is a six rotation player and a setter, so not having her
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  out there for those matches was a tough adjustment for everyone, Corey
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  said. A setter is that middle piece between the dig and the
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  attack, so having her back has made things flow smoother for us.
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  She had a really good match for us tonight. Rochelle was led
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  by Gillian Bruns, seven kills, Briel Metzger, four kills, two aces, seven
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  points, Reese Kissick, three kills, two blocks, Georgia Shabacker, six aces, seven
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  points, ten digs, Emma Metzger, twelve digs, and Maggie Lewy, twelve assists,
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  four digs. Our setter Maggie Lewis did a really good job for
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  us tonight, Rochelle coach Molly Sly said. She was aggressive at the
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  net and played with A lot of confidence, which was great to
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  see. Emma Metzger, our Libero, also played well and did a great
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  job of leading from the back row. Ottawa held leads of 12-6
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  and 17-11 in the opening set, but Rochelle battled back to close
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  to within 22-20. A kill by Kissack pulled the hubs to within
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  a point, but a serve error was followed by a kill from
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  Ottawa's Rowan Weems, and a set point ace by Waldron. The second
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  set was back and forth early on, but a pair of three
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  point spurts put Ottawa up twenty one fourteen. A block by Kisak
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  closed the gap to twenty one seventeen, but Ottawa scored four of
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  the final five points, including a kill by Knoll, an ace by
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  Thrush, and a pair of kills by Gagnier. We came into tonight
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  playing pretty good volleyball as of late, Sly said. We took Sycamore
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  to three sets, and the last three matches had some strong stretches
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  against Cantalan, Morris, and LaSalle Peru. Those are the top four teams
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  in our conference. But tonight we had a roller coaster ride as
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  far as playing well in Spurts and not so well in others.
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  We just didn't play as well as we have been tonight. Both
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  sides are scheduled to play Thursday in i-8 matches, with Rochelle hosting
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  Sycamore while Ottawa is at Canaland.