Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond finishes second in LPC volleyball tourney
The ALAH varsity volleyball team celebrates a kill by #12 Summer Melton in the LPC semifinal match with Sullivan. Summer had 12 kills in the match. Players celebrating are #32 Savannah Butcher, #9 Mackenzie Condill, #17 Leighton Poulos, and Alayna Plank.
By Mike Monahan
PAXTON – The No. 4 ranked team in Class 1A (according to Maxpreps.com), undefeated Unity Christian showed why they are 28-0 last Thursday in the championship volleyball game of the fifth annual Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament. The Lions swept Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond 25-17, 25-19. The Knights loss snapped a 12-game winning streak.
“I am proud of our 12 game winning streak,” said ALAH coach Emily Crossman. “We knew a month ago that this is where we wanted to be playing Unity Christian in our home gym in the championship of the conference tournament. It is disappointing that our winning streak is done, but we have a huge tournament at Paxton-Buckley-Loda (last Saturday) and at Mahomet-Seymour and it will be hard to stay on the winning streak playing those big teams, but that is what we want going into the postseason. We need to play teams that are better than us to prepare for our postseason run.”
In Saturday’s tournament at Paxton the Knights went 2-2 and Monday went for their 20th win of the season with a 19-7 mark. ALAH lost to Lexington (No. 12 in Class 1A) 25-20, 25-23; and Beecher 25-18, 25-16, but beat Milford 25-9, 25-12 and PBL 25-18, 25-22.
Unity Christian def. ALAH 25-17, 25-19
Arthur came out strong scoring the first four points, including three points by Karaline Vanausdoll. However, Hillary Griffy of Unity Christian answered with five points after earning the serve. She had two aces during the run. ALAH led for the final time at 9-8. A kill by Cameron Brown gave Mallory Harrison the serve. Harrison served five straight points for a 14-9 Lions lead. The Knights hung in there, trailing 15-11 when a kill by Laila Turner gave Sadie Reiterman the serve. She had two aces during the run as Unity Chrisitan went up 19-11.
The Knights did not get closer than six points the rest of the way.
In the second set the Lions, who have had only five three-set matches, went up 12-3 after four services by Brown, including kills by Harrison and Ava Saurmann. Unity Christian, who won last year’s tournament title as well, led 20-7 as it looked like they would win easily. It was still 23-12 when the Knights showed some fight and scored seven of the final nine points, including an ace by Summer Melton.
Both coaches saw each other play on Oct. 8 and this was the only time for each other.
“I knew they were going to be tough,” said Unity Christian coach Rhonda Glidewell, who moved from Arthur after her freshman year. “They are in Class 2A and we are in Class 1A. Emily Crossman always brings a good team. “
One thing that Glidwell was happy with besides their kills was their serving.
“We try and serve very aggressively to keep teams out of system,” said Glidwell, who said winning at Arthur was special. “ We get about three per set, which we definitely did tonight. I think that is one of our main strengths.”
Crossman was not counting on their serving to be a strength.
“Their serving game was probably the most surprising thing for us,” said Crossman. “We knew they had huge hitters and our defense would have to step up, but we had not focused as much on our serve receive to perform also.”
Unity Chirsitan had 23 kills, including a pair of sophomores in Brown and Brielle Buch with six each, while the Knights had nine, including three by Melton and Savannah Butcher. The Lions had 11 aces, including six by Harrison, while the Knight had five, including three by Karaline Vanausdoll.
As for the comeback, Arthur Glidwell said, “I think we had our confidence up because we knew that we were ahead enough that if they made some goofy plays we were still going to be okay. Brown, 6-0 and Harrison both play on club teams, but I have had Brown since junior high. We have a young team with mostly sophomores and only two seniors. The girls don’t really think about being undefeated. We try and focus on one game at a time and if we happen to go to Redbird Arena (on the campus of Illinois State University, where the state final four is) then thank God. He is the one that carries us through it all of the time.”
Crossman said of their final push, “We recognized how much fire we had and how much we were fighting. We talked about in the locker room of having that same amount of fight in us out of the gate. Why are we waiting until the last three points, the most important points, to have that fire. We have to put the pressure on them from the beginning.”
ALAH coach Crossman said, “They are undefeated for a reason. They have got a lot of threats coming at you all of the time. There were definitely things that they made us do, that I think we can clean up on our end.”
At Paxton Buckley Loda Tournament Saturday
Lexington def. Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond 25-20, 25-23: Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Milford 25-9, 25-12: Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Paxton Buckley Loda 25-18, 25-22: Beecher def. Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond 25-18, 25-16
ARTHUR tournament totals: Karaline Vanausdoll 5 aces, 32 digs, 1 assist; Annabelle Vanausdoll 17 digs; Mackenzie Condill 3 aces, 1 kill, 19 digs, 1 assist; Brynlee Moore 1 ace, 2 digs; Summer Melton 3 aces, 16 kills, 6 digs; Bella Romine 15 kills, 5 kills, 1 digs; Sarah Hercshberger 11 digs, 1 assist; Leighton Poulos 3 kills, 3 digs; Maggie Benedict 2 digs; Addison Yeakel 7 kills; Mackenna Blaudow 12 kills, 2 digs; Alyana Plank 2 kills, 1.5 blocks, 22 digs, 72 assists; Savannah Butcher 13 kills.
Fifth annual Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament at Arthur
Thursday’s result: Unity Christian def. Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond 25-17, 25-19
Tuesday’s result: Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Sullivan 25-15, 25-15
Monday’s results: Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Okaw Valley 25-15, 25-10; def. Cumberland 25-18, 25-14
ARTHUR tournament totals: Karaline Vanausdoll 10 aces, 26 digs, 2 assists; Annabelle Vanausdoll 5 digs; Condill 1 ace, 1 kill, 16 digs; Herschberger 1 aces, 9 digs; Moore 2 digs; Melton 3 aces, 23 kills,1.5 blocks, 10 digs, 1 assist; Romine 24 kills,2 blocks; Poulos 4 aces, 2 dig; 1 kill; Benedict 6 kills, 4 digs; Yeakel 7 kills,1 block; Blaudow 8 kills,4 digs, 1 block; Plank 4 aces, 2 kills, 12 digs, 44 assists; Butcher 6 aces, 14 kills, 0.5 blocks, 2 digs
LPC tournament results Oct. 7 results at Decatur Unity Christian
Unity Christian def. Tri-County 25-15, 25-10; Tri-County def. Villa Grove 25-23, 25-22; Unity Christian def. Villa Grove 25-15, 25-16
Oct. 7 results at Argenta-Oreana
Argenta-Oreana def. Blue Ridge 25-14, 25-15; Arcola def. Blue Ridge 25-13, 25-18; Arcola def. Argenta-Oreana 25-21, 20-25, 25-15
Oct. 7 results at Arthur
Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Okaw Valley 25-15, 25-10; Cumberland def. Okaw Valley 25-18,25-20; Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Cumberland 25-18 ,25-14
Oct. 7 results at Heritage
Heritage def. Cerro Gordo/Bement 25-14, 25-20; Sullivan def. Cerro Gordo/Bement 25-11, 25-9; Sullivan def. Heritage 25-14, 18-25, 25-18
Oct. 8 at Arthur
Tri-County def. Argenta-Oreana (11-15 after match) 29-27, 25-15; Unity Christian def. Arcola 25-12, 25-13; Heritage def. Cumberland (7-19-1 after match) 26-24, 23-25, 27-25; Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond def. Sullivan 25-15, 25-15
Oct. 9 at Arthur
Villa Grove (6-14) def. Blue Ridge (2-20) 25-9, 25-22; Cerro Gordo/Bement (3-23-1) def. Okaw Valley (3-15) 25-23, 25-8; Okaw Valley (4-16 after match) def. Blue Ridge (2-22 after match) 25-7, 25-13, 9th place; Villa Grove (8-14) def. Cerro Gordo/Bement (4-24-1 after match) 27-25, 25-22, 7th place
Thursday at Arthur
Heritage (17-11 after match) def. Tri-County (6-12 after match) 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, consolation championship; Sullivan (8-11 after match) def. Arcola (11-9 after match) 25-15, 25-15, third place; Unity Christian (28-0 after match) def. Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond (17-5 after match) 25-17, 25-19, championship
