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Health & Fitness

Plainfield's Pennington All-Tourney For JCA

Plainfield's Hailey Pennington was named to the all-tourney team at Autumnfest as the Joliet Catholic Academy took second place.

LOMBARD – Sometimes, second place is not second best.

Behind the all-tournament efforts of junior outside hitter Morgan Reardon and senior middle Hailey Pennington, the Joliet Catholic Academy volleyball team walked off the court Saturday at Autumnfest with that exact feeling after fighting for every point in a 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 loss to Benet.

The championship meeting for JCA (29-5) was a rematch of Thursday’s 25-15, 25-19 setback. The Angels, who played the whole weekend without Loyola-bound senior outside Kelly Feigh, rallied from an 18-12 deficit in the quarterfinals to beat Providence for the second time this week, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23.

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JCA, which now has a 10-2 record against Providence since 2003 and has won six straight against the Celtics, then defeated Mother McAuley in the semifinals for the second time this season, 25-15, 19-25, 25-20. The Angels opened the year with a 25-22, 22-25, 25-11 victory over the Mighty Macs.

In Gold Division play, Reardon led JCA with 34 kills and 32 digs, while Pennington (Plainfield) contributed 20 kills and 13 block kills. Switching over from setter, senior outside Lauren Robertson (Wilmington) added 18 kills and 19 points, including a season-high 12 kills and 5 aces in the championship match.

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Senior setter Emily Schoenstedt (Plainfield) totaled 44 assists and 31 digs and junior setter Mallory Mangun notched 39 assists and 21 points. Senior libero Jill Hickey (Oswego) had 59 digs and 16 points.

Sophomore outside Julia Shemaitis came off the bench and delivered 4 big kills to clinch the win over Providence and junior defensive specialist Sarah Adler took over Feigh’s defensive responsibilities.

“I was extremely happy with the way the girls played this weekend,” JCA coach Christine Scheibe said. “They really came together as a team played with heart and character. Morgan and Hailey played extremely well, and this is great momentum going into the last match of the season and the playoffs.”

On Friday, second-seeded JCA won its pool by defeating Wheaton Warrenville South 23-25, 25-7, 25-13 and Prairie Ridge 25-16, 22-25, 25-15. Reardon, a Loyola recruit, led with 18 kills, 18 points and 18 digs, with Robertson registering 17 kills and 22 points and Pennington providing 12 kills and 10 block kills.

Senior defensive specialist Meggie Fahrner (Plainfield) tallied 15 points. Schoenstedt had 24 assists and 4 block kills, senior middle Gianna Lincoln had 4 block kills, Mangun had 31 assists and Hickey had 35 digs.

 “We played strong at times this evening and then we had a few lapses, I think, due to the amount of tough matches we have seen in the past two weeks,” Scheibe said of Friday’s action. “Robertson looked very strong serving and hitting and Mangun did another great job of defending and setting for us.”

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