WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP | Covenant Christian volleyball coach Laurissa Boman is hoping for two more team photos this week.
Boman’s Knights took a team photo after knocking off LaCrosse 18-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-14 in Class A Washington Township Sectional play Thursday, and two more photos would mean the school’s first sectional championship.
The Knights will face Kouts in Saturday’s semifinals. The Fillies won 25-2, 25-9, 25-20 over Gary 21st Century.
After dropping the first set, the Knights (10-12) rallied back to win three straight to close it out on the strength of runs of points.
“The girls don’t play on nerves very well, and they had to be comfortable on the court,” Boman said. “It took us four games to get comfortable and really to get into the game.”
Covenant Christian scored five of the final six points to take the second set. Bekkah Jelsma had four kills, two assists and an ace in the set for the Knights, and Megan Buiter added three kills.
Jelsma finished with 10 assists, six kills and two aces.
The Knights tallied nine of the final 12 points to take the third set. Calli Beezhold finished the set off with an ace. Buiter, who led the Knights with 12 total kills, had three in the set.
Covenant Christian used a run of 11-straight points in the fourth set to take a 14-5 lead on the way to the clinching win. Buiter, Beezhold and Courtney VanderMeer each had three kills in the set for the Knights.
LaCrosse never trailed in the opening set. Jessica McDowell had two kills in the set for the Tigers (3-21).
“They played tough tonight,” LaCrosse coach Patty Rawlings said. “They gave it everything they had.”
Sarah Mareska and Gabbie Sievers led the Tigers with six kills each.
In the other match, Kouts recorded 30 aces in the three-set sweep.
“That’s definitely something we have been struggling with, so it’s good to get some of our servers back on track with that,” Kouts coach Karyl Van Dyke said.
Megan Heinold led the Fillies with 14 aces.
Jan’nassa McElroy led the Cougars with three aces.
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