By Fred Kroner
Playing five matches in the first six days of the high school volleyball season was not a problem for the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans.
The Spartans emerged from the week with a 5-0 record and played all but one of their matches away from home.
SJ-O ended the week on Saturday (March 20) by winning twice at a round-robin event hosted by Mahomet-Seymour.
The Spartans needed three sets to hold off the Bulldogs, 25-17, 20-25, 25-20. M-S was the only team to extend SJ-O to three sets in the first week.
Kennedi Burnett and Payton Vallee each posted their first double-double of the season. Becca Steinbach notched her second double-double against the Bulldogs.
Burnett registered 12 kills and 12 digs. Vallee posted 14 kills and 10 digs.
Steinbach handed out 36 assists to go with 13 digs.
Hannah Fox totaled 16 digs and Shayne Immke served two aces. Burnett also landed two aces as well as one block.
Against Decatur St. Teresa, SJ-O earned a sweep, 25-19, 25-17.
Steinbach collected 15 assists.
Burnett finished with nine kills, three aces and a block. Vallee had five kills, five digs and one block.
Immke contributed two kills and five digs. Ashley Eldridge totaled two kills and two blocks.
On Thursday (March 18), the Spartans won their second Illini Prairie Conference road match in three days, capturing a 25-10, 25-21 win at Stanford Olympia.
Burnett and Vallee each contributed eight kills and nine digs. Burnett also served five aces.
Steinbach had 20 assists and 12 digs. Fox chipped in with 13 digs.
SJ-O’s first three wins were all in two-set sweeps, starting with the Monday (March 15) conquest of Hoopeston Area, 25-15, 25-13.
In the season-opener, Burnett ended with 11 kills, four digs and four aces. Steinbach had 18 assists and Vallee added seven digs.
The Spartans (5-0) return to action on Monday (March 22) at Champaign Central.
