Road block: Koerkenmeier’s stuffs turn tide in third set as Mater Dei ends QND’s season

PANA, Ill. — Even after a season-ending loss, Danielle White could not help but smile when thinking back on her first season as the Quincy Notre Dame volleyball coach.

“That’s these girls,” White said of the source of that smile. “Our girls really set a great example, especially for my first year coaching, of what leadership looks like and what you can do when you have leadership and energy.”

The Raiders’ bid for a final four berth came up one set short, as Breese Mater Dei bested the Raiders 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 in Monday’s Class 2A Super-Sectional at Pana High School.

“It’s not the outcome we wanted, but I’m blessed,” said White, who took over the Raiders program after previously coaching at Carthage Middle School. “It’s one of those things where you don’t know where your life is going to be in a year, and I’m here. I’m blessed to have the group I have. I’m already thinking about what we can do next year.”

The Raiders led 13-8 in the third set before a Breese Mater Dei timeout. The Knights chipped away at that lead and tied the game at 17 when 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker Alyssa Koerkenmeier blocked Madalyn Boyer’s swing.

That block was a sign of things to come.

Koerkenmeier blocked Nora Wiley on the next point. After Wiley’s swing went long to give the Knights a 19-17 lead, the Raiders rallied to tie the set at 19, but the Knights blocked the Raiders on the three successive points. Addison Nenninger had two of those blocks, each on Wiley, and Ella Diercks blocked Eva Breckenkamp.

“I tell Koerk all the time, ‘If you want this game, you’ve got to take over,’ and she did,” Knights coach Cortney Walker said. “She set up her block perfectly for the outsides and the oppos, and she put those balls back down on their side of the net.”

White said the Knights’ continuous denial of the Raiders’ swings deflated her players’ confidence.

“It was tough,” White said. “They figured out where we were going, and they blocked us hard. When point 19 came and they got up two then three, I think we kind of shut down. Instead of overcoming, we fell apart.”

Boyer sensed the frustration on the court.

“When it started happening over and over, I think that took some of the confidence out of our hitters, which will happen,” said Boyer, a senior middle blocker. “For next season, they just need to remember that people are going to get their blocks, and you’re going to get your hits. You just have to keep battling through that block and figure out a way around it.”

To add insult to injury, Knights senior libero Addie Lampe’s serve clipped off the top of the net and dropped on the Raiders’ side to extend the lead to 23-19, then Diercks powered a kill through the Raiders’ block to get to match point. On that point, Raiders senior setter Annie Eaton’s overpass attempt landed wide, sending the Knights to the final four as they aim to defend their Class 2A state title.

“They gave us everything we could handle,” Walker said of QND. “They have a great defense, and they have great hitters.”

That defense and hitting was on full display in the first set, as QND shook off several Mater Dei counterpunches. That set was tied 11 times, but the Raiders scored four of the final five points to take the set. Boyer had the set-clinching kill on a feed from Eaton.

“We were just over-the-top confident,” Boyer said of the first set. “We had all the momentum, all the confidence.”

The Knights (36-3) snatched that momentum away in the second set. The Raiders never led, and the Knights’ lead ballooned to as large as 19-11. The Raiders rallied to cut the deficit to 22-18, but the Knights scored three of the next four points, the final of which came on an Diercks kill on a tip shot over the Raiders’ block.

“A big focus for us has been to remain level-headed and not get ourselves in a rut,” Walker said. “We wanted to clean up our serve receive a little bit, and our serve receive stepped up in the second set.”

Walker’s goal was to get the Raiders out of system, which the Knights were able to accomplish with much more efficiency in the second and third sets.

“She’s a great player,” Walker said of Eaton. “She gets that ball to her hitters seamlessly, mixes it up, keeps our blockers guessing, so our focus was to try to get her out of system as much as possible.”

White said the unexpected wrinkles the Knights threw at the Raiders (36-3) caused some discombobulation on QND’s end.

“You can play bump, set, hit volleyball all day, but when you have unexpected stuff, it throws you out of system,” White said. “When we get thrown out of system, we know what to do, but it’s not our strongest area.”

Still, despite her team’s second and third set struggles and their inability to close the deal, White encouraged her players to keep their heads held high.

“I told them, ‘The sun’s going to come up tomorrow. We’re going to move forward, and everyone is going to continue to go on with life,’” White said. “I’m still proud of the girls. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They overcame a lot this year, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”