Girls volleyball: Marian Catholic ousts Queen of Peace

Updated: November 1, 2011 9:02PM

Having beaten Queen of Peace twice during the regular season, Marian Catholic could have taken the floor Tuesday night overly confident.

Not these Spartans.

“We thought that might get in our head a bit,” Marian’s Colleen Rynne said. “We realized how serious it is. Our goal is to win state, so no matter how many times we beat them we wanted to stay focused and get the job done.”

Marian Catholic took control from the start and never looked back, cruising to a 25-15, 25-15 win at its own Class 3A sectional semifinal.

Rynne dished out 19 assists for Marian (22-16), with Amber Clay (9 kills), Jasmine King (4 kills) and Kendyl Todd (4 kills) also contributing for the Spartans, who’ll meet Illiana Christian at 7 p.m. Thursday for the sectional title.

Allyson Murray led Queen of Peace (11-25) with three kills. Katie Hannon, Kaylynn Yerkes and Morgan Miller adding two kills each.

Clay’s early flurry of kills sparked Marian to an early 15-7 lead, the sophomore providing five kills as part of the match-opening run. A late 6-1 run won the first game.

The Spartans offense continued to click in Game 2, Rynne spreading the ball around to all of her hitters. After Peace drew as close as 14-11, Marian closed on a 10-4 run.

“When everyone is upbeat and cheering, I know we’ve got a run going,” Rynne said. “Everyone is excited to just get the ball and slam it down.”

Peace was playing without starting outside hitter Michelle Frederick, who was out with back spasms.

“We just didn’t play well as a team,” Peace coach Anne Malone said. “We had opportunities to come back, and we didn’t.”

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