Waubonsie Valley prevails against rivals

Updated: October 4, 2011 10:07PM

On and on they went.

Two strong defensive teams went at it tooth and nail Tuesday in an Upstate Eight Valley Conference volleyball battle between neighborhood rivals Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley. The visiting Warriors, sparked by back-to-back block kills from 6-foot senior Brittany Rampersad, finally prevailed 25-23, 20-25, 25-19.

“That was a big help, a big momentum shift for us,” relieved Waubonsie Valley coach Kristen Stuart said of Rampersad’s effort, which included seven blocks for the match.

The Warriors had just broken the sixth and final tie of the final set – 18-all – on a Rachel Minarick kill off a Noelle Linden set. Rampersad’s successive blocks followed by a Mustang hitting error and a Lauren Lindell kill gave the visitors some much-needed breathing room at 23-18, the first lead of the decisive set that was larger than three points.

It allowed the Warriors to survive a service error and claim the win on back-to-back hitting errors from the weary Mustangs.

“They’re a very strong ball control team,” said Stuart. “They’re probably the best defensive team we’ve faced so far. Defense definitely wins games. It frustrates you. We had some really long rallies.”

Metea Valley coach James Milkert appreciated it.

“That’s a great compliment,” he said. “I think the same thing about them. It’s very frustrating when you’re struggling to to put a ball away and you’ve got to keep everything alive. That wears on you.”

The win lifts the Warriors to 15-10 overall and 4-0 in the league, while dropping the hosts to 14-7 and 2-2.

It also spoiled Metea’s first Senior Night. Three of the Mustangs’ four seniors who were honored before the match – Pittsburgh-bound middle Jessica Boddy (5 kills, 5 blocks) and outside hitters Brianne Honda and Antoinette Senese – all played their freshman year at Waubonsie Valley.

With 6-foot-3 Boddy such a force in the middle, it’s easy to think of the Mustangs as a big team. That’s not quite accurate considering generously listed 5-11 right Jaeme Cruz and accurately listed 5-4 Honda play such key roles in the offense.

“They’re both very feisty and they get the most out of their height,” said Stuart.

“They’re definitely smart hitters,” said Rampersad. “When they go up they’re like tooling off us, going off our fingertips. We knew it was gonna be a good (match) and even better since it was their senior night.

“It was frustrating. We went on long rallies. We kept getting hits we normally get kills on and they kept getting ‘em back up.”

The Warriors broke a 23-23 tie in the opening set on a kill by Danielle Vandenberg (8 for the match), and then Katie Campbell and Lisa Studnicka teamed up on a block on the next point to decide it.

“I thought bouth our middles blocked well and we got good offense from our right sides (Vandenberg and Lindell, 5 kills),” said Stuart.

Studnicka led Waubonsie with 10 kills.

“She did well on defense and blocking but it wasn’t her most efficient night hitting,” said Stuart.

Cruz had four kills and Honda three in the see-saw second set that featured eight ties before Metea Valley broke through on a five-point service run by Honda late in the game. Freshman Lexie Lobdell, who had eight kills, put away the decisive point off a set by sophomore setter Ellie Petersen, who finished with 26 assists.

“We got them out of their system in the second set and made them more predictable and easier to play defense against,” said Milkert. “We have done fairly well when we’re serving tough and have a couple points lead. When we lose our serve we have trouble siding out. We weren’t tough enough in the third set. They outworked us. But maybe I get a little too far ahead of myself sometimes. I do think we do the absolute best we can with what we have as a team.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.