42 | August 31, 2017 | The Homer Horizon SPORTS homerhorizon.com Girls Volleyball Lockport tops Lemont in straight sets to start season Brittany Kapa, Assistant Editor One down, 24 to go. Lockport marked their first “W” of the season during the team’s opener. In the nonconference game, the team won against Lemont in two straight sets. The Porters beat the Indians 25-18 in both sets Aug. 22. Despite both of the wins, the Porters came out shaky at first but soon found a solid footing. The Porters struggled during the first half of the first set to keep spikes within bounds, and a few balls were served out of bounds. The Porters remained calm and pulled away when the teams were tied 8-8, with a 10-4 run putting them up 17-11. “In the beginning, I didn’t feel too good because I hit two out, and I was kind of down about that,” JoDee Kovanda said. “Afterwards, everyone else was doing really good, and that’s all that really matters. Once I got a few tips going, and I got a few kills, then I really started getting into it, and that really helped.” The senior setter, like the rest of her team, gained confidence as the game progressed and finished with eight kills, 11 assists and two aces. “There are obviously things we need to fix, but I’ll take that for Aug. 22,” coach Nick Mraz said. “Overall, it was up and down, but that’s how a first night goes.” Mraz’s confidence with his team never wavered ,though, and as the night progressed, the Porters became more confidence and showed how well they could work together. The second set almost mirrored the first, but this time the turning point for the Porters was when the teams were tied 10-10. Senior setter Shae O’Neil came up to serve at when the Porters were leading 11-10. She had seven serves in a row with two aces. Kovanda kept the team going with two well-placed kills. O’Neil’s final served landed out of bounds to end her run and give Lemont a point, but Mraz said he was happy with her performance. “She is like our Jay Cutler on the team,” Mraz said of O’Neil. “It doesn’t matter what she does, she is straightfaced and moves on to the next point. The girls need to learn from that. You’ll never read it on her, good or bad. She is one of the people that I know can hit any zone. “She was following every single zone I gave her and hit them. So, we’re going deep five, dropping to three, deep five, deep one and just like that and easy, too. When I have a server that can do that, I get to start having fun with it because I know I can count on her to keep it in.” O’Neil’s run gave the team a healthy 16-10 cushion. Lemont fought back to close the gap and went on a 9-7 run to get as close as 22-17 before a serve run by Hannah Pacheco gave Lockport their 23rd and 24th points and an eventual game win. “They got the run first, and they got ahead and then we were playing catch-up,” said Chris Zogata, Lemont’s coach. “So even when you get ahead and you’re trying to play catch-up, that’s difficult. That is a hard situation Lockport senior setter Shae O’Neil prepares to strike a serve Aug. 22 during the Porters opening night victory against Lemont at LTHS’s East Campus. Brittany Kapa/22nd Century Media to be in. We either just have to stay with them or get those runs first and have the other team play catch-up, which is just what I think happened in that match.” Overall, Kovanda, O’Neil and senior libero Emma Sweeney agreed that while there was room for improvement during the game that the team as a whole was happy with their performance in the team’s first outing this season. “I was proud of us,” Sweeney said. “I think that just starting, six [returning players] and six [new players] we all came together really well. Obviously, there are things that we can improve on. Serve receive is always something that can get better.” Girls Swimming Expectations remain high for Porters Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter A glance at the seasonopening results for the Lockport Township girls swimming team might have shown a third-place varsity finish at its own triangular, but the expectations are still there for the Porters. Those expectations are centered mainly around another sectional championship. Lockport will be aiming for its third straight sectional title and fourth in five years this November. In the meantime, the Porters were excited to get the season going as they hosted the Plainfield Co-op and Wheaton Co-op teams on Aug. 22 in a triangular meet. There, Plainfield (149.2 points) won, while Wheaton (91.3) edged Lockport (89) for second. “Plainfield has all four schools in one and is really a strong program,” Lockport coach Grant Ferkaluk said. “Wheaton has both of its schools together, too, with a co-op in their district, too. So [in last week’s meet], we swam OK. Our team was beat up pretty good going in with a lot of workouts. “We did some different things. We’re looking for girls to step up and replace the key people we graduated from last year.” Lauren Estes, Kamryn Fields, Makayla Kraus and Brittney O’Neill were some of the key seniors that graduated from last year’s Lockport team, which qualified all three relays plus in four individual events for state. But the good news for the Porters is that the trio of girls that qualified in the four individual swimming events are all back this season. In fact, none of them are seniors. They are junior Emily “We hope to win the sectional again and get a lot of girls to state.” Emily Johnson — junior swimmer, on the team’s goals for the season Johnson, sophomore Lindsey Merk, and junior Oliwia Wolek — who was held out of the season-opening meet. The Porters had no individual or relay winners in the triangular. Plainfield had nine, while Wheaton had three. Lockport did place second to Plainfield in a pair of relays. In the 200-yard freestyle, it was the foursome of sophomore Maddie Odeen, senior Molly Gerches, sophomore Alexis Webb and senior Kayley Uy with a runner-up time of 1 minute 48.63 seconds. In the 400-yard freestyle relay it was Merk, Gerches, Webb and Johnson placing second (3:51.94). Merk placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (54.89) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.68), while Johnson was second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:26.62). Webb was third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:12.54), and the Porter 200-yard medley relay team of Merk, sophomore Emma Estes, Johnson and Uy (1:58.32) placed third, as Wheaton won that event. “I think we did pretty good,” Johnson said of the first meet. “I did some different events. I usually do the 100 and 200 freestyle, as well as the medley relay. We’re really tired. We’ve had some tough practices, but it will all pay off at the end.” Johnson was sectional champion in the 100-yard freestyle last fall. “We hope to win the sectional again and get a lot of girls to state,” said Johnson, who is in her third varsity season. “It’s fun. But we know we need to work hard, push through the tough events and stay positive.” Ferkaluk, who is in his 12th season as the girls coach, agrees. “We have a lot of real good underclassmen like Lindsey Merk, who finished third in the state in the 100-yard butterfly last year,” Ferkaluk said. “But we also have key seniors like Molly Gerches and Kayley Uy. We will look for them to finish their high school career strong. “We’ve set a precedent of winning, and the girls are working hard. They see what’s in front. We host the sectional this year [on Saturday, Nov. 11], and that’s exciting.” The Porters resumed their schedule this week with a dual meet on Tuesday, Aug. 29, against Lincoln-Way Central. This Saturday, Sept. 2, brings the Lockport Invitational starting at 10 a.m. Next week brings another home meet, on Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 5 p.m. against Hinsdale South. The Porters then turn around and travel right back to Hinsdale South over the weekend for an invite. The diving is held on Friday, Sept. 8, at 5 p.m., while the swimming is on Saturday, Sept. 9, starting at 8:30 a.m.
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