CHICAGO | Morton simply did not have the size, the power, nor the overall talent to compete with Mount Carmel's volleyball team Friday night.
The Caravan, behind the hitting of Bob Walsh, Matt Walsh and Garrett McGarry, got on a roll late in the first game and took the momentum to a 25-20, 25-8 victory in one semifinal of the De La Salle Sectional.
The third-seeded Caravan (17-17) will face sixth-seeded St. Rita (24-14) at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the championship. The Mustangs advanced Friday with a 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 upset of the section's top seed, Oak Park-River Forest.
Though the Caravan will be the higher seed Tuesday, St. Rita defeated the Caravan in two games in their only meeting of the season.
"We are going to need to stick together and shut down their outside attack, especially John Johnson," said 6-foot-8 Caravan senior Bob Walsh, who led the team with eight kills Friday. "If we can contain him, we can win the game for sure."
It will be the first time since 2001 that the Caravan volleyball team has made it to a sectional final.
Aftert a shaky start with its serving, the Caravan broke open the first game late, due in part to three unforced errors by a much shorter Mustang lineup. Bob Walsh closed out the first game with a kill off a feed from junior setter Dominic Villa, who finished the night with 17 assists.
The Caravan's Garrett McGarry served up back-to-back aces as part of a 10-point Game 2 run that gave the Caravan a healthy 19-3 advantage. Three more Mustang kill attempts into the net, combined with a block-for-point by sophomore Matt Walsh (7 kills) and two kills by his brother Bob closed out the match.
"Overall, we played really well," Bob Walsh said. "We made a lot of errors early that we've got to clean up, but other than that we are doing what we need to do to get wins."
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