BELOIT — The Beloit Memorial girls volleyball team was disappointed in itself for following up a win over Southern Lakes Conference foe Badger at a tournament in Delavan-Darien over the weekend with a loss via sweep at the hands of the Badgers in conference play on Tuesday night.
The Purple Knights knew it had to be better in the response department.
They got cracking on that right away on Wednesday night against Madison La Follette, which made several vicious runs but were unable to make Beloit falter as the Knights swept their former Big Eight adversary 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 at Barkin Arena.
“We struggled a little bit, but we put it down a lot after they would go on a service run," senior setter Beyonca Hereford-Foster said. "We did a really good job getting out of that. We talked and were good at covering the line, they got points off tips a majority of the time."
Beloit had trouble closing the door with a big lead as the Lancers came back down 15-9 in the first set to cut it to 18-15, rallied from being behind 20-8 to trail 24-19 in the second and making a run after finding themselves losing 19-14 to come within 24-20 in the third.
But each time, the Knights didn’t let La Follette take a lead. Instead, Beloit would simply regroup and find a way to win the set.
“They did a great job of blocking that out,” head coach Kim Gamble said. “Last night (against Badger), that was something that they didn't do very well. They let it get in their head. Tonight, they shook it off, stayed out of their head, focused on the next point and did their jobs.”
In the opening set, Essence Coleman helped the Knights jump out to an 11-5 lead with three aces, two blocks and a kill. Another attack from the senior made it 18-15 after some Beloit attack errors had helped the Lancers fight back into it.
Coleman’s ace then made it 20-15 and set off a 5-2 run from the Knights, which featured two aces from Brooklynne Hereford-Foster and sealed the set win.
“The girls really came out with energy and excitement,” Gamble said. “They played for each other and stayed up the entire time. Our passing was super solid, we were making smart plays and attacking the ball really great.”
Beloit’s defense struggled at times both on the serve receive, allowing eight total aces, and off La Follette’s hard-hitting strikes. It made the strong work of Hereford-Foster and sophomore Rilynne Cleland, both setters in a 6-2 system, all the more important.
“Rilynne does a really good job with hands,” said Hereford-Foster, who paced the Knights with eight assists. “I know when she goes out there, she can put up a good ball for our hitters to swing. For me, reading the ball and squaring it up is one of the most important facets for setting. Talking to your hitters and knowing which sets they want to run, how high or how low or how far out they need it. And, I'm focusing on watching the court.”
Coleman and senior Briana Cunnigan-Little helped the Knights jump out to that big 20-8 lead in the second set with the two accounting for eight of the points.
“Briana is explosive,” Gamble said. “When we're able to connect with her, it's great because she jumps so high and brings so much excitement to the floor.”
“Honestly, we put the majority of our balls to Essence because she can put it down,” Hereford-Foster said. “It's really nice that if we're in trouble, we know she can put it down and get us out of that (opponent's) service run.”
Coleman led the team in blocks (3), aces (3) and kills (8).
But the Lancers fought back, scoring four points from the service line and outsourcing the Knights 16-4 before Cleland’s tip kill ended the set.
In the third set, Little’s attack helped start a 13-6 run from the Knights. The senior and Coleman each contributed three points in the surge.
The Lancers fought back one last time, chipping away to cut it to 23-19 before a kill from Brooklynne Hereford-Foster and a service error ended the match.
Jennifer Murillo had a team-high eight digs.
“What helps drive us is our want to win," Beyonca Hereford-Foster said. “We got beat pretty bad yesterday, and that made us come out and go 'We have to win. We have to play our hearts out today.'"
Beloit improves to 9-12 overall and is 0-4 in the tough SLC, but it will look to win its first SLC match of the season when it next takes the court on Tuesday at Union Grove.
“We went 3-2 at the Delavan-Darien Tournament,” Gamble said. “It was a really strong showing for us at the tournament, very close to being 4-1. The second half of the season, I'm excited to see what we can do. We have a couple conference teams that I think we can be competitive with, and I'm excited to see that the girls are playing confidently.”
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