SJO, Heritage and Oakwood volleyball pick up wins, Oakwood/Salt Fork CC wins Vermilion Valley Conference
By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
Volleyball teams from St. Joseph-Ogden, Heritage and Oakwood were all victorious in Tuesday matches.
In a showdown between 20-win teams, St. Joseph-Ogden swept visiting Prairie Central, 25-5, 25-14 in an Illini Prairie Conference match.
Jenna Albrecht had a match-high seven blocks while Katelyn Berry led the Spartans (21-2) with six kills.
Prairie Central is 20-11.
SJ-O puts its 12-match winning streak on the line Monday at Warrensburg-Latham.
Heritage (19-5) scored a 25-16, 25-22 Little Okaw Valley Conference win at Oblong.
Aliya Holloman (eight kills), Gracyn Allen (seven kills) and Bree Buck (seven kills) combined for 22 kills. Holloman also registered three blocks.
The Hawks play host to Hutsonville tonight. Heritage is chasing its first 20-win season in volleyball since 2012.
Oakwood (16-9) won at Chrisman 25-14, 25-13 thanks to a team-high 17 assists from McKenzie Doan.
Alyssa Romito landed seven kills and Kerrigan Shafer had six kills.
The Comets play host to Westville tonight, their final tuneup before the start of Saturday’s Vermilion County Tournament.
Girls’ cross-country
Oakwood/Salt Fork unseated two-time Vermilion Valley Conference champion Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin on Tuesday, securing five all-conference runners en route to the team title at Chrisman.
Oakwood/SF had a team score of 20. Runner-up B-H/R-A had a composite of 38.
The Comets’ leaders were Grace Davis (third on the 3-mile course in 22 minutes, 39 seconds), Mackenzie Russell (fourth in 23:00), Carlee Richardson (sixth in 24:24), Carlie Thompson (ninth in 25:43) and Amber Kirby (10th in 25:44).
The individual winner was B-H/R’A’s Lexi Darby, whose time (22:15) gave her an eight-second margin of victory.
Boys’ cross-country
Oakwood/Salt Fork didn’t have enough runners to be scored as a team, but all three of the squad’s representatives placed among the top five and earned all-conference accolades.
Andy Hohn was third in the 3-mile race in 17 minutes, 40 seconds.
Dawson Rogers placed fourth in 18:06 and Cameron Helka was fifth in 18:07.
Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman captured team honors for the third consecutive season. Its point total was 34. B-H/R-A was second with 46 points.
Soccer
Second-seeded Urbana Uni High ended the season for St. Joseph-Ogden on Tuesday in a regional semifinal match at Oakwood.
The Illineks (14-5-3) posted a 3-0 win over the Spartans (6-11-2).
SJ-O’s deficit at intermission was 1-0.
Boys’ golf
Neither Oakwood nor St. Joseph-Ogden had any players advance from Monday’s Class 1A sectional tournament at Danville Country Club to this weekend’s state meet.
The Comets placed 11th in the 13-team sectional field with a composite of 403.
The top three schools advanced to state. A team score of 343 was needed to qualify for state.
St. Joseph-Ogden had two sectional participants, but neither junior Payton Grimsley nor senior Adam Rose advanced.
Grimsley carded an 83 and was two strokes above the cut for advancing to state.
For the season, Grimsley had a team-best nine-hole scoring average of 42.6.
Rose fired a 107 at sectional.
Rose’s nine-hole average was 51.8. Other team leaders were Joey Acton (51.6) and Tyler Moore (53.9).
