Article and photos by T Ray Henry
On Monday, September 21st, the Marshall High School volleyball team, with a record of 12-6, traveled to St. Joseph to take on the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans in a non-conference doubleheader inside St. Joe-Ogden’s gymnasium. Marshall, in their first match since giving Effingham St. Anthony everything they wanted in a three-set match, went into the Spartans’ hostile environment to face a team which has lost only one match at home this season, against Teutopolis in a three-setter decided by a total of three points (22-25, 25-23, & 22-25). The Spartans came in with a record of 11-4, with just two losses coming against 2A schools (T-Town & an undefeated Pana squad). Their other two losses came against 3A ranked schools (Mahomet-Seymour & Springfield).
Since the St. Anthony match last Thursday, the Lions rolled out an adjusted lineup with McKenzie Davis moving to the middle blocker position to counter the St. Joe-Ogden central attack, and Lauren English rotating between the back line on defense for returns and digs as well as positioning on the outside wings on offense for striking opportunities. With the exception of a couple instances with spacing and convergence on the ball, the formula worked very well as Marshall defeated St. Joe-Ogden in straight sets 25-22 and 25-20. During the match, Marshall’s Libero Ali Sheets and Lauren English got to digs that at times seemed like they were propelled out of a rocket launcher from St. Joe’s side of the floor, but they didn’t flinch. It was semi-expected that Sheets would go to the locker room between sets and return wearing goalie gear for the second set.
Throughout an opening set where the score was tied a remarkable 13 times, the largest lead achieved by either team at any point in the set was three points. In the early going, a tip winner by Harper Richardson, a kill by Lilly Ross, followed by two kills by Richardson, helped the Lions tie it up at 5. After St. Joe’s went up 8-5, a block by Ross and Richardson and an ace by Richardson tied it back up at 8. Meanwhile, McKenzie Davis was very active in the middle of the Lions’s defense, which pushed the Spartans to the outside for strikes, and Ali Sheets and Lauren English were Lions-on-the-spot cross-court to return those strikes.
Between ties at 8 and 14, the Spartans would go up by 3 points three separate times before the Lions leveled the set with kills by Libby Huisinga and Lilly Ross. Two kills by Harper Richardson tied it up twice after St. Joe-Ogden inched ahead, then a tip winner by Lilly Ross tied it up at 20. With Marshall trailing by one with the score 22-21, Lilly Ross scored a kill to tie it at 22, then another Ross kill put the Lions in the lead 23-22. The Spartans felt the pressure as Marshall played some great defense at the net and along the back line, and on the next pivotal point, St. Joe’s lost the ball in the net which gave Marshall a 24-22 lead. Keeping the pressure on the home team, Marshall’s front line went up high as a Spartan tip went over the block and out of bounds. With that point, Marshall won the first set by the score of 25-22.
In the second set, St. Joe-Ogden jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Marshall came back to tie it up at 7 apiece. Lauren English served an ace, while Lilly Ross and Libby Huisinga combined on a block winner. Marshall then went ahead by two (9-7) when Lilly Ross scored a kill and Harper Richardson served an ace. Back-to-back kills by Lilly Ross kept the Lions in front by two (10-8 and 11-9), then McKenzie Davis scored a kill for Marshall to maintain the two-point advantage (12-10). Davis and Richardson later combined on a block winner to give the Lions a four-point cushion at 14-10 as St. Joe’s called time out.
After the Spartans trimmed their deficit to three (15-12), Marshall’s Lauren English scored a kill and Ellie Delp and McKenzie Davis combined on a block winner to give the Lions a 17-12 lead. After the home team score a point (17-13), McKenzie Davis and Harper Richardson combined on a block winner, then Richardson smashed a kill to give Marshall a 19-13 lead.
St. Joe-Ogden got the Marshall lead down to two points (19-17) after scoring four straight points, but the Lions responded with five straight points of their own to make the score 24-17 and get to match point. Harper Richardson served an ace and Lilly Ross scored a kill to highlight the Big Red run. After St. Joe’s scored three to make it 24-20, Lilly Ross put an exclamation point on the match when she laced a kill down the left side to give Marshall a 25-20 win in the second set as well as a straight set win over St. Joseph-Ogden. With the win, Marshall improves to 13-6 on the season. With the loss, St. Joe-Ogden’s record moves to 11-5.
Statistical Leaders
Aces - Richardson 3, English 1
Assists - Richardson 11, Ross 8
Blocks - Davis 4, Richardson 3, Huisinga 2, Ross 2
Digs - Sheets 9, English 7, Richardson 7
Kills - Ross 10, Richardson 6, Davis 2, Huisinga 2
In the junior varsity match, the young Lions were out of sorts from the moment they got off the bus. Not having enough time to warm up, being rushed into action, having the match interrupted by an interpretation of player rotations, all contributed to the JV squad never getting into a flow of play. The outcome was a straight set loss by the scores of 25-16 and 25-14.
Marshall’s teams return to the court Tuesday, September 22nd when they welcome Hutsonville-Palestine for a non-conference match inside McNary Gymnasium. Junior varsity action begins at 6:00 PM with the varsity match to follow. It’s Tie Dye night for Marshall’s student section. Come on out to McNary Gym and watch this special group of student athletes compete.
McKenzie Davis (L) and Harper Richardson (R) were a force blocking in the middle for Marshall at St Joe-Ogden
Harper Richardson gets ready to smash a kill through the St Joe-Ogden block during Marshall's win in straight sets
Lilly Ross puts an exclamation point on match point to give the Lions a straight set win over St Joe-Ogden
Ali Sheets (in white) and Lauren English (in red) handled a barrage of St Joe-Ogden strikes to keep the Lions in points
