Girls volleyball: Blotnik, Joliet Catholic pick up sweep over Providence

NEW LENOX — It's always intense when Providence and Joliet Catholic play against each other, no matter what the sport.

Thursday night was no exception, as the Angels ruined the Celtics' Homecoming match by defeating them 25-21, 25-22.

JCA (5-4) was ready to go from the start, as was Providence (9-2). The score was tied at 11 midway through the first set before the Angels caught fire and went on a 6-0 run to take a 17-11 lead. The spurt showed off the offensive diversity that JCA had all match, as the aptly-named Heavenly Sarfo had two kills, Ellie Blotnik had one and Brooke Simon had one. Blotnik led the Angels with eight kills on the night to go with eight digs, while Ella Godeaux had 12 digs, two aces and three assists. Simon had six kills, and Olivia Emerson had 11 assists, a block and four digs.

"It was kind of a nail-biter," Blotnik said. "Even though we won in two, both sets were very close the whole way. It's always an emotional rivalry game against Providence, and we came ready to play tonight.

"We decided it was time to stop talking about what we need to do and put it into action. We worked hard in practice and it shows. Everyone that was on the court contributed. We knew we had to want it from the start and that's what we did."

The Angels threatened to run away with the second set, jumping out to a 12-6 lead But Providence rallied to eventually tie it at 14 after a block by freshman Kennedy Kotowski. Two aces by Cali Tierney moved the Celtics out to a 16-14 lead. The match was tied at 18 and 20 before back-to-back kills by TIerney and Demi Carbone put the Celtics ahead 22-20. JCA, though, scored the final five points of the match, getting two kills by Simon, two by Olivia Chovanec and the final one by Emerson.

"Our block was excellent tonight," JCA coach Kisha Cameron said. "Everyone played well. Our sophomores did a great job. Ella played great defense all night and Maggie [Tibbott] came in and closed it out at the service line for us.

"The girls came out focused and they really wanted it tonight. This is a good win for us, especially in this environment. It's a big rivalry, it was their Homecoming. You can throw out the records when these two teams play. Our record might not be where we want it, but we have been playing a tough schedule. We have gotten a lot better. Our defense was really scrappy tonight, and we are going to need to keep doing that."

Providence was led by Abbey Knight, who had a match-high 11 kills, while Tierney added five. Carbone had 11 assists and Delaney Purtill added seven.

"This is a fun rivalry game," Providence coach Lee Rucinski said. "We are two very good programs and teams. The kids love playing this match, and both teams came out and wanted it from the start.

"It was pretty good volleyball for the most part. It was back and forth. They had that run in the first set that kind of threw us for a loop, and in the second set, we were up 22-20 and didn't finish it off. We hope to learn how to close a team out when we have them down like that. It's nice to have a hitter like Abbey that we can lean on, and I thought we passed the ball wonderfully tonight. It's a match we can learn a lot from going forward."