Hononegah opens season with three-set thriller against Rockford Boylan

ROCKTON — As junior Lili Fox recounted the events of Hononegah's season opening game against NIC-10 foe Rockford Boylan, her croaky voice was little more than a whisper.

The intense amount of cheering that comes from smashing the winning spike of a three-set victory will do that to you.

"It felt great to contribute to my team and help us run through the finish line," Fox said with a smile.

The Indians defeated the Titans 25-20, 22-25, 25-18 on Tuesday night, and it was Fox that ended the thriller at the Field House on the campus of Hononegah High School.

A Boylan kill cut the Indians' lead to 22-17 in the final set before the junior delivered back-to-back booming attacks that found the Titans' floor.

Hononegah committed a service error, but Indians' setter Courtney McWilliams set up the winning kill off Boylan's ensuing serve. Fox slammed it back over the net and at a Titan defender who had no chance at digging it up.

Fox had 11 kills, eight of those coming in the final two sets, to just three attack errors.

"Lili's the person you want to have in a must-win situation," head coach Kaylee Libby said. "She proved that she can go out there and finish the game for us, get those kills when we really need it. Her energy and her leadership on the court — she demands the ball, but in a good way."

The Indians had won the first set after jumping out to a 20-9 lead, behind seven total kills from junior Addison Erb. Three of those came in a 6-0 run by Hononegah, a run where the 6-foot-5 middle accounted for five of those points as she contributed a pair of blocks.

"I just have to learn to keep calm," said Erb, who had a match-high 13 kills. "It becomes very stressful at times. You have so many things going on as a middle. You have to block the right side, the outside, the gap, the slide, the back row. I just focus on following the ball, calming down and taking it — obviously you don't want to take it slow — but one step at a time."

Boylan fought back using their stout defense to prolong rallies and their strong outside hitters to put down hard-to-dig shots.Three-straight aces from Monica Toltzman put the Titans behind 24-20 before Erb's tip kill finally sealed a set win for the Indians.

Hononegah struggled to maintain momentum in the second set with Boylan's fast-paced defense saving a slew of Indians' shots that seemed headed to the floor.

“I swear they touched every ball,” Libby said. “If we got a kill it was by going off their platform, they literally got a touch on every single ball. Their defense was incredible.”

With Hononegah ahead 7-5, the Titans went on a 13-6 run to take an 18-13 lead, mostly off attack errors by the Indians.

Haylie Alfaro, who finished with 10 kills, had two-straight kills as part of a 6-3 run by the Indians to move within 19-17. The two squads kept close from that point, never going more than four points apart, but Emelia Hernandez's kill sealed the 25-22 win.

Boylan jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the final set before Camille Jenkins' ace tied it at six. An ace from Lexie Seymour made it 10-9 in favor of the Indians and Caleigh Rice's kill jumped her team ahead 13-12, a lead they wouldn't surrender.

“The biggest difference in that third set was our energy,” Erb said. “We kept talking about energy in our timeouts. We told the bench, 'Hey, scream your head off.' And when you're on the court, scream your head off after every single point. Talk more. Communicate. Good or bad, we just have to constantly be talking to each other to get that energy.”

Kills from Alyssa Zowaski and Alfaro made it 16-12 while a pair of kills from Erb upped it to 20-13. Boylan scored four of the next six points before Fox's kills ended any comeback charges.

"In the third set, we found our momentum again," Fox said. "We had a lot of energy and we took it to them. We have a lot of determination on this team. Everybody wants to do their best and to win. We just found a way to fight back."