Ace in the hole: Pereda's serve keys Morton

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

Alfonso Pereda went for the juggler.

The sophomore delivered a perfectly positioned ace down the right sideline that helped to propel Morton past host St. Rita 15-25, 25-16, 25-22 in a sectional final Tuesday night.

The dramatic shot helped to give Morton its first volleyball state quarterfinal appearance in history.

“My first serve has been very good the whole year, and I had to make a play there,” Pereda said.

After a slow start, Pereda was spectacular with 18 kills, three blocks and two aces.

His perfect serve put Morton up 23-21. St. Rita cut it to 23-22, but Morton forced consecutive St. Rita hitting errors to ice its comeback victory.

Morton nearly surrendered a big early lead in the third game. Behind two ferocious Pereda kills, Morton (29-5) jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the decisive game.

Behind senior outside hitter John Bisiules (14 kills, three blocks), St. Rita (26-10) fought back and seized its final lead at 20-19 and appeared to snatch the momentum.

The final game featured four ties and three lead changes.

Senior setter Jose Valencia (22 assists) set up his Morton teammates beautifully with consecutive kills that reversed the 20-19 deficit.

It marked a stark contrast to the opening that saw Morton commit 13 hitting errors in the first game. Mike Capone added nine kills and two blocks for Morton.

“We were nervous at the start,” Valencia said. “We’d never been in this position before in school history and we made some mistakes. We minimized our mistakes in the second and third games and just stepped up and never stopped pushing.”

Senior middle blocker Andrew Kats added 10 kills and two blocks for St. Rita.