Copyright Shaw Local Enewspapers
The third time was truly the charm for the Providence girls volleyball team. The Celtics played in their third straight Class 3A supersectional match Monday night, taking on Washington on the Panthers’ home floor in the Washington Supersectional. After losing in this match the last two seasons, Providence was able to break that streak and come away with a 25-21, 25-18 win to advance to Friday’s state semifinals at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena, where they will play Nazareth Academy at 4 p.m. Providence (34-6), which is making its first state appearance since 1995, dominated from the start. Washington (23-15) held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first set, but those were the only times the Panthers led. Providence got the serve back and tied the score at 2 on a kill by Abbey Knight, bringing Juju Batshon to the service line. Batshon delivered four straight points, including an ace and a kill each by Knight and Kennady Kotowski, to move out to a 6-2 lead. Washington rebounded to tie the score at 12 and 13, but could never grab the lead. With the Celtics leading 16-15, a kill by Demi Carbone (6 kills, 17 assists) got the serve back, then Maddie Johnson served three straight points for a 20-15 lead. Washington closed to within 21-19 on an ace by Kadie Bishop, but Providence closed it out with two kills by Knight, who led all players with 13 kills, and a block by Grace Lustig. “All of the work we put in paid off,” Knight said. “We were ready and we were prepared. I feel like I’m sitting on top of the world right now. “We expected to have to deal with a lot of noise from their student section on their own floor, and they made a lot of noise. We just talked about playing on our own side and taking care of the things we could control.” Carbone got the Celtics off to a good start in the second set with a kill on the game’s first point. She added another one to put her team up 10-8, then stepped to the service line and delivered an ace. She had another kill to put her team ahead 17-14, which was followed by a kill from sophomore Lily Lipke. Washington got a kill and then an ace from Carly Dawson (11 kills) to close to within 20-18 before Knight and Lustig combined for a block to get the serve back to Batshon. Two hitting errors brought up match point and, fittingly, the Wright State-bound Knight ended the match with a kill. “This is the most unreal feeling right now,” Carbone said. “We said at the start of the year that we wanted to go to state. That was our one goal for this season, and we did it. “Coach Lee [Rucinski] worked us hard, but we knew we needed it. We trusted him and we trusted each other. We were confident and went out and did it. When we were up 22-18 and Abbey rotated into the front row, it was a feeling. We knew we could rely on her. This is truly the power of the whole team, though. Everyone played a huge part and I am so proud of all the girls.” Rucinski said he has seen a change in his team over the last few weeks. “Earlier in the season, we had a lot of girls trying to make that highlight play,” he said. “I told them that we needed consistency over perfection, and they have really done that. They make the plays they are supposed to make and don’t beat themselves with unforced errors. They are making the other teams try to beat them, and if we don’t beat ourselves, we are tough to beat. “This is all about these girls. I am so excited for them. They have been busting their butts since July 7. We met that day and they told me they had one goal - to get to state. For the to do it after taking a 2 1/2 hour bus ride and playing on the other team’s home floor - a team that has pulled off upset after upset. They were looking at us as another upset for them. This was a full team effort tonight. Abbey is our leader, but everyone played great. Demi was outstanding, and Kennady Kotowski really gave us a spark early. Maddie Johnson was all over the floor, Juju Batshon came in and did a great job serving. When Abbey spun into the front row with us ahead 22-18, you could see how bad she wanted it and we took care of business.”
