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Hall finishes strong, closes regular season with win over Mendota · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Hall finishes strong closes regular season with win over Mendota. Written by
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  Kevin Schlum This article is being read by an automated voice, brought
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  to you by Everlet. The Hall volleyball team had ups and downs
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  throughout this season as a whole, and often during individual matches as
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  well. The Red Devils had more ups than downs Tuesday, finishing strong,
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  in both sets as they ended the regular season with a 25-21,
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  25-19 victory over Mendota in a three Rivers Conference East Division match
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  in Mendota. They came out strong, Hall Coach Carolyn Foster said. We
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  always have our ups and downs, we get in a little rut
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  sometimes, but tonight we actually pushed through, and we didn't roll over
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  and let
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  the take over. I'm very proud of the girls for fighting all
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  the way through the last point. Foster credited the bench players for
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  helping Hall close out each set. We don't always finish like this,
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  Foster said. We usually let the opponent come back and sneak back,
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  but we kept the energy up. Our bench kept the energy up.
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  Our bench plays a big role in how our girls play. They're
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  on the ground doing these cheers, making up cheers as we go.
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  Their energy is big. Mendota scored the first three points of the
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  match, but the Red Devils quickly turned it, around, tying it at
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  6-6 on a block by Nia Zamora. After a Mendota error, Hall
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  got three straight kills, two by Caitlyn Coots and one by Zamora.
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  That pushed the lead to ten six. The Red Devils led the
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  rest of them way. The
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  Spikers rallied within 16-15 but never ties it, and Hall said Amia
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  Wenzel served two aces in a three-point run to extend Hall's lead
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  to 24-19. I feel like we pulled through on our serves a
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  lot, Wenzel said about how Hall was able to finish strong. We've
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  been working on the a lot. The second set was tight early,
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  with nine ties before Hall took the lead for good at thirteen
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  twelve on a Mendota service error. Ava Delphi served three straight points
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  to push the Red Devils to match point at twenty four eighteen
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  before Hall closed it out after an error with a kill from
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  Leah Burkhardt. Coots led the Red Devil attack with seven kills, while
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  Caroline Morris and Burkhart had five each. Morris returned to the lineup
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  Monday after a week off because of an ankle injury and provided
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  a boost to the offense. I feel like our team dynamic really
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  builds when we have her and we connect a lot, said Wenzel,
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  who finished with 17 assists, 5 digs, and 3 aces. It helps
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  to have her a lot because I feel like I have a
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  lot of different places I can put her. It just gives me
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  more options. The Red Devils finish the regular season 8-19-4 overall and
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  3-7 in the conference. Hall is a No. 7 seed and players
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  No. 9 Rockridge on Monday in the Class 2 AIVC regional. The
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  winner advances to face The No. 1 hosts on Tuesday. I would
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  say after tonight we're ready for regionals, Foster said. It's all about
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  who shows up. If we all show up we'll compete. If we
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  get past that first game, we'll be playing IVC. They're seated first,
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  but every team is beatable, and my players believe that. Mendota 920-1519
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  TRC East closes out the regular season Thursday at home against Sandwich.
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  The Spikers are the number 8 seed in their subsectional and will
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  play No. 9 Oregon in the Class 2A Winnebago Regional on Monday,
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  with the winner advancing to play the No. 1 seeded hosts. I
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  thought we played better than we played last time, against Hall. Mendota
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  coach Demi Salazar said, We have difficulty with teams that tip that
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  much. In the second game they figured out what to do and
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  we missed some serves. This is the first year in a long
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  time that we aren't the bottom seed in the uh sub subsectional,
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  so that's that's an improvement. I saw improvement on a lot of
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  things throughout the year. We were missing a lot of serves early
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  in the season, and we're not missing as many now. Our serve
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  receive has really improved. We're headed in the right direction.