Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Mater Dei rides Thole past Central

She collects season-high 13 kills in victory

BREESE -- With senior Laura Thole blistering dart after dart into Central's defense, hitting balance fell by the wayside for the Mater Dei Knights.

Thole, a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter, collected a season-high 13 kills Thursday to lead the Knights past city rival Central 25-22, 25-19 in the opening match of the Mater Dei Tournament.

"Thole was our horse," said Mater Dei coach Fred Rakers. "You just go to her and if they can't stop her, you keep going to her."

Ranked second in the News-Democrat Large-School poll, the Knights (20-3) normally spread the wealth among their hitters. Rakers said even the best gameplans sometime go haywire in the spirited Battle of Breese.

"Sometimes that happens in a Mater Dei-Central game," Rakers said. "You're dealing with all these feelings and sentiments and all the stuff that enters the game when you're playing your neighbors. Sometimes you don't do the right things."

Sophomore Kaley Boeckmann and junior Tabatha Albers each had four kills, and impressive freshman Brooke Schulte added three for the Knights, who improved to 2-0 against Central this season.

The Knights -- who beat the Cougars 25-27, 25-20 on Sept. 20 -- overcame 20 errors. Six of those were service errors as the two powerhouses combined for 12 net serves.

"Neither team could say anything about getting the ball in that 900-square feet," Rakers said. "That patch was hard to find. We were looking for grass in the desert. You just have to hang in there until something turns your way."

The loss was the sixth straight for Central (12-11), which showed a lot more pluck than it did during Tuesday's 25-16, 25-11 loss to Freeburg.

That effort boiled the blood of veteran Central coach Jim Cook, who used most of Wednesday's practice to exercise his vocal cords.

"We kind of had a 'talk' last night," Cook said. "It was 40 minutes of me screaming. They even heard it in the office. It was just time that we had to get some things straight and quit worrying about other things. It was time that we quit crabbing at one another and start playing with one another."

The Cougars were playing without one of their starters against the Knights. Jena Hemann, a 5-8 sophomore middle hitter and defending Class A high jump champion, did not play because of a sprained ankle.

Hemann, who is second on the club in kills, injured the ankle during warm-ups at Freeburg. She will be out at least a week. Sophomore Jennifer Detmer replaced Hemann in the front row.

"It is what it is," Cook said. "We have to go. It's a big drop -- and I know they're both sophomores -- but Jena has played all year, and Jennifer has only played three or four games. Obviously, when you're the high jump state champion, I don't think that girl has the same jump."

Brittany Monken had six kills and Kelsey Johnson five for the Cougars, who traded points with Mater Dei in Game 1 until the Knights opened up a tiny 20-17 lead on a Schulte ace and Central error.

Two more Central errors made it 24-19. The Cougars closed the gap to 24-22 on three consecutive Mater Dei errors before the Knights closed it out.

In Game 2, Mater Dei used a four-point run by sophomore Alison Mueller to open a 13-6 lead. A Cortney Crocker ace and Central error made it 19-12, and a block by Schulte on match point finished off the Cougars.

"She's coming around pretty fast," Rakers said of Schulte, one of two freshmen (Samantha Bedard is the other) in the lineup for the Knights.

Contact reporter Rod Kloeckner at rkloeckner@bnd.com or 239-2663.