Raiders exact revenge for classmates, beat Blue Devils in Early Bird Tournament title match

QUINCY — Less than 24 hours after the Quincy High School football team routed Quincy Notre Dame by four touchdowns, senior setter Annie Eaton and the QND volleyball team wanted to make amends.

“Our football team didn’t have the greatest outcome, so we wanted to come out and show that volleyball’s got it,” Eaton said.

A 25-19, 25-18 victory over the Blue Devils in the QHS Early Bird Tournament championship match Saturday\ at the QHS accomplished that.

“We knew what was coming,” QND junior middle hitter Eva Breckenkamp said of the Raiders’ mentality going into that game. “We wanted to beat QHS really badly because they’re some of our best friends.”

Several players from both teams spent the offseason together playing for the Club Four Boost 17 team that made a run to the USA Volleyball national tournament in Las Vegas in July. So the school rivalry isn’t completely cuthroat.

“It’s competitive, but at the end of the day when the game’s over, it’s back to being friends,” Raiders senior libero Kourtney Keck said.

This was the first taste of the crosstown rivalry for QND coach Danielle White, who is in her first season on the Raiders’ bench.

“The energy was there from the get-go,” White said.

Now imagine the energy when these teams meet again Oct. 21 at QHS.

“That’ll be a fun night to be a part of,” White said. “Looking forward to it, for sure.”

Looking forward is one thing the Raiders made sure not to do in their semifinal match against Winchester West Central just two hours before a potential rivalry showdown in the championship.

“I told the girls coming out, ‘This is the game that’s going to set the tone for how we play in the next one,’” White said. “If we come out and we just go through the motions, we’re going to have to find energy in this championship game.”

The Raiders dispatched the Cougars 25-7, 25-7 in a match that lasted barely 30 minutes.

“They played phenomenal in that Winchester game, had energy, they were putting balls down left and right,” White said. “They just carried that over into the championship game.”

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for the Raiders in the title match. In fact, they trailed the Blue Devils 13-12 in the first set, but they rattled off the next four points and seven of the next nine to take a 19-15 lead. The Blue Devils narrowed that deficit to 21-18, but senior defensive specialist Ashlyn Peters served the Raiders to match point with back-to-back aces, and senior middle hitter Madalyn Boyer finished off the set with a powerful kill down the middle.

The Blue Devils again jumped out to a lead in the second set thanks to three Raiders service errors in their first seven cracks on serve. The Blue Devils’ 8-7 lead didn’t last long, as junior outside hitter Nora Wiley tied it with a blistering swing, and the Raiders scored the next three points to extend the lead to 11-8. That gap would get no closer than two points the rest of the set and grew to as large as eight.

“We know where our bar is of where we can be and we are continuing to climb up to that bar,” White said. “We’re seeing growth every game. We’re messing with rotations a little bit to see what we’re capable of as far as our flexibility with positions, but they’re pulling it all together, which is great to see.”

Eaton continues to impress White with her setting instincts and ability to read plays on the fly.

“She’s phenomenal,” White said. “She just recognizes where their block is. She’s really adapted to if we see the block step out to the right or left, she’s noticing that and pushing the set where it needs to be. She does it so beautifully. You never know what she’s going to do, so that makes what we’re running on offense more fun to watch because it’s so unpredictable.”

An example of that came with the Raiders leading 21-14 in the second set. As a pass floated to Eaton’s right, she got in position and executed a perfect backset to a trailing Breckenkamp, who put the ball away with ease.

“I knew she was back there,” Eaton said of that play. “I can see the blockers in my peripheral vision, so I do my best to see where they’re trying to go. I had Eva 1-on-none, and she hammered it.”

Breckenkamp said the connection between her and Eaton is special.

“It’s so fun because we have so much chemistry,” Breckenkamp said. “We’ve been playing together since freshman year, and we play together every winter. It’s to the point where we’re like ‘hey, you wanna run it? ‘Yep, let’s go.’”

Fourth-year QHS coach Kate Brown was overwhelmingly optimistic about her team’s showing throughout their five matches Saturday, of which the championship game was their only loss.

“Good things happened today,” Brown said. “One thing we’ve always struggled with is staying ‘hype’ as the girls call it, just staying excited about every little thing. When we get down, finding a way to regain momentum. They had the energy all day. Even if it was against teams that were not at our level, we stayed playing at our level instead of dropping down. They were very excited about those little accomplishments, and it’s going to lead to bigger things.”

Both Keck and Eaton noted how imposing the QHS block is, and Brown said that block will cause other teams fits all season. The Blue Devils had three blocks — one each by Madison Loos, Kaley Summers and Ayanna Douglas — against QND.

“We call it a block party, like ‘Let’s have a block party today guys,’” Brown said. “We had blocks on QND, some of their big hitters, and I think that was exciting for them. Being able to block them is one of the greatest feelings.”

Keck, Eaton and Wiley each made the all-tournament team, while Summers and Abby Bunch earned all-tournament honors for the Blue Devils. Leah Knudson did so as well for the QHS JV team that finished third and even took the opening set against the varsity squad in the semifinals.

“I know it’s probably not something varsity wanted, but that also shows how much the program is building and the phenomenal players we’re going to have coming up,” Brown said.