Eaton’s save propels QND volleyball team to first super-sectional bid since 2017

KNOXVILLE, Ill. — The score was about to be tied.

Instead of setting the ball to Kennedy Adair, Macomb’s Avery Rexroat opted to use her left hand to dump the ball deep and into the corner of the Quincy Notre Dame backcourt. Once the ball landed on the floor, Macomb would tie the first set at 24 during Wednesday’s Class 2A sectional championship at Knoxville High School.

Delaney Beard dove and popped the ball up with her left hand to keep the play alive. Annie Eaton was equally determined not to let it land.

“I was kind of praying while I was running back there,” she said. “My mindset this whole game was just don’t let the ball hit the ground, because that’s really what matters right now.”

Eaton sprinted from the middle of the court to the back line and made a jaw-dropping save on the second hit, allowing teammate Abbey Schreacke to send the ball over the net on the third hit. Moments later, Emma Hoing delivered the kill to give the Raiders the first set.

Raiders will face Pleasant Plains in Friday super-sectional

That play propelled Quincy Notre Dame to a 25-23, 25-17 victory over the Bombers. QND (32-4), ranked No. 6 in the MaxPreps Class 2A state poll, advances to Friday’s super-sectional at Clinton. It will play No. 4-ranked Pleasant Plains (32-5), which defeated Maroa-Forsyth 25-22, 25-10 in the finals of the Monticello Sectional.

Eaton, a freshman, made two remarkable digs when QND was leading 23-22, but Adair, Macomb’s all-time leader in kills, finally put one on the floor to tie the score. However, the next serve by the Bombers was long, and Beard wisely let it sail out of bounds to set up match point.

After Rexroat’s dump at 24-23 was played by Beard, Eaton raced at least five feet off the court and dove to pop the ball up. She didn’t advance it far, but she played it high enough for Schreacke to race underneath it and keep the rally alive.

“I just gave it everything I had and threw my body on the floor,” Eaton said. “That’s what you have to do in the game.”

“I knew there was a chance, because that’s the stuff that our team just gets,” Schreacke said. “We don’t let anything drop.”

Kvitle: ‘(Eaton) wants to win at all costs’

“That’s the difference between a team that wants to win versus a team that’s like, eh, we’ll just maybe do it,” Raiders coach Courtney Kvitle said. “This team wants to do it, and you can just see that by those kinds of plays.

“(Eaton) keeps the ball off the floor, and it gets the team hyped up. She’s just a winner. She’s a fighter. She wants to win at all costs, and she’s gonna do anything to do it.”

Macomb coach Briana Rexroat admitted that play affected the game’s momentum.

“They got some good scrappy plays,” she said. “There was one time it was all the way to the back, and they got it back in. I mean, that’s just great hustle.” 

Schreacke had six kills in the first set and kills on two of QND’s first three points in the second set, but Macomb’s blockers frustrated her for the rest of the second set. The Raiders turned to sophomore Emma Hoing, who had six kills in the second set and nine in the match.

“I got on her a little bit after the first game,” Kvitle said. “I said, ‘You got to get out there and give a little bit more,’ and she did. She started transitioning better. She came out there and did what I needed her to do.

“Abby got shut down a little bit, but we figured out how to get points.”

QND serving keeps Macomb offense in check

The Raiders’ aggressive serving frustrated Macomb throughout, and Faith Kientzle put the game away in the second set. Kills by Hoing and Eaton helped QND turn a 15-14 lead into an 18-14 advantage. When Kientzle stepped to the service line with QND leading 21-17, her serves led to a passing error and two hitting errors to close the match.

“They’re good serving team, and we knew they were gonna serve us tough,” Rexroat said. “We were just hoping we could get that pass up to the target to run our offense. You can’t run an out-of-system offense against QND.”

“We just kept keep serving tough at the end line, and eventually we just put so much pressure on the other team,” Kvitle said. “It’s just hard to keep up with that.”

The sectional title is the first for the Raiders since they finished second in Class 2A in 2017. 

“This definitely isn’t it,” Eaton said. “We’re not finished.”

“Bring it on,” Schreacke said. “If we keep the same energy, come out and play hard, then there’s no doubt we can make it.”

IHSA Class 2A state tournament bracket