Archbishop Murphy volleyball dominates Shorewood

xSHORELINE — Archbishop Murphy volleyball was in a groove in the second set on the road against Shorewood on Thursday, winning point after point thanks to key aces from sophomore Julia Navaluna and a relentless net presence.

In a matter of minutes, Archbishop Murphy had built up a 14-0 lead. With each dig and each kill, they would not be denied.

“We feel kind of free,” senior Emma Morgan-McAuliff said about the run. “We feel more comfortable swinging and trying new shots, and just giving in a new mindset. I feel like everyone is kind of more loose. No one is playing timid when we’re having a good time.”

The good times kept rolling for the Wildcats (7-0, 4-0 league), who would turn that 14-0 lead into a 25-6 set win before locking up a 3-0 match victory (25-12, 25-6, 25-15) against the Stormrays (5-2, 4-1).

Both sides entered the match undefeated in league play, but Archbishop Murphy asserted its dominance in every phase.

“We wanted a clean match,” Wildcats coach Allie Sinex said. “We’ve been working really hard on controlling our side of the net, and our systems being as clean as possible. And that’s been a theme since the beginning of season for us. Every match, we’ve been able to get a little crispier on those, and that was going to be our challenge tonight, was truly owning our side of the net.”

Morgan-McAuliff led with 10 kills, and junior Teuila Halalilo had a team-high 28 assists. Junior Ashley Fletcher contributed nine kills, while Navaluna, the libero, had nine aces and nine digs.

No individual stats were reported for Shorewood, which will head back to the drawing board after what head coach Brittney Hunter called “a healthy dose of reality.”

“Each timeout, I told them to meet the moment, and to just meet the competition where it was at,” Hunter said. “To keep digging deep, past the fatigue, past hard plays and just meet the moment.”

Navaluna got things started with back-to-back aces in the first set before the Stormrays battled back to tie it 2-2 and 3-3. Morgan-McAuliff and Halalilo helped the Wildcats build up leads of 9-3 and 15-5 with kills and blocks, and the entire team kept plays alive with successful digs.

Shorewood senior Ella Ehdaie tried to close the gap with a block and a kill, sandwiching an ace from junior Jillian Belle Lumbera to cut it from 18-7 to 18-10, but Archbishop Murphy ultimately pulled away with a string of kills from Morgan-McAuliff and Fletcher to win the first set 25-12.

By focusing on bringing energy from the first serve, the Wildcats felt they could translate that into a fast start.

“We train every day to be ready for these moments, and when it comes, we really, truly show out,” Halalilo said. “Especially our serving on the line, we really were aggressive and we were just really pounding it as (much) as we do in practice.”

After rolling to a 14-0 lead in the second set, Archbishop Murphy kept their foot on the gas even after the Stormrays responded with a couple of points. Sinex slowly started bringing players in off the bench with the set well in hand, and juniors Tamanh Huynh and Sarah Langowski stepped up in a couple of moments to help build the lead to 21-2.

Shorewood freshman Emma Csapo scored two consecutive points on a block and an ace to cut it to 23-6, but Wildcats sophomore Roisin McGuigan closed it out with an ace a couple of points later to lock in the 25-6 win.

Archbishop Murphy picked up right where it left off in the third set, opening with eight straight points, but the Stormrays refused to roll over, completing more blocks around the net and taking advantage of several Wildcats mistakes to cut the deficit to 14-11.

“I would say just like focusing on our first pass,” Fletcher said about Archbishop Murphy’s effort to regroup. “Getting our first pass to land on our setter, and then just put the ball away after that.”

Fletcher scored the first kill to bring it to 15-11, and the Wildcats rattled off five more points to regain a comfortable margin. After a spike from sophomore Sarah Fletcher and a couple more aces from Navaluna, Halalilo assisted Morgan-McAuliff one last time to win the third set 25-15 and secure the match sweep.

Shorewood will have its shot at revenge in just two weeks, on Oct. 16, but Archbishop Murphy feels confident about keeping their momentum rolling after executing its vision on the court.

“We came in saying we wanted to win. We wanted to get this done in three (sets), and we really showed up,” Morgan-McAuliff said. “I think when we start off with warmups being that disciplined, it just carries out throughout the whole game.”