Girls Volleyball
Owolabi, McAuley rally
to take down Marist
Marist was on the charge.
Charley Niego was in the back row.
Somebody needed to turn the tide for Mother McAuley in Tuesday’s annual “Battle of Mount Greenwood.”
Sophomore Amia Owolabi raised her hand. Or swung her left arm anyway.
Among many, she was the timeliest hero in the Mighty Macs’ 25-20, 25-17 victory.
Niego led the way for McAuley (9-1) with nine kills and 14 digs. Owolabi and Alena Pedroza contributed five kills each, while Nancy Kane distributed 23 assists and Casey Macander had 18 digs.
Maggie Meyer had 10 kills and 12 digs for Marist (9-1). Grace Green added 13 digs and Molly Murrihy had 22 assists.
Owolabi, a 5-foot-10 right-side hitter, came up clutch after Marist had roared back from a 21-12 deficit in Game 2 with six points in a row.
Her powerful lefty spike cut a path through the middle of the Marist defense. It also quieted the amped-up RedHawks cheering section.
“I just told them, ‘Let’s cut off the noise and just keep going for what we’re going for,’ ” Owalobi said. “For myself, I just wanted to get my timing right. I knew I could do it, and I just told myself that.”
McAuley went on to score three of the next four points, the match-clincher a kill by Pedroza, another sophomore.
It had to make Niego smile from the back row.
“We have a lot of young players,” Niego said. “We just really want them to take the biggest things they can and not be afraid.
“(Owolabi) is only a sophomore, and she has so much potential. Seeing how she hit here, I think there are really big expectations for her.”
Niego was the ultimate difference-maker in Game 1, first breaking a 19-19 tie with a kill and then landing a serve just inside the back line to make it 24-20.
The Notre Dame recruit also put down back-to-back kills during a 6-0 run in Game 2 that allowed the Mighty Macs to break away from what had been a slim 9-8 advantage.
One of the kills came after a stunning defensive play by Niego’s little sister Grace.
Stunning at least to the sophomore libero.
Grace Niego was braced on the left side when Meyer ripped a liner that struck her in the left side of the face. Niego flinched, but didn’t fall. McAuley kept the ball in play, and eventually scored the point.
“It did stun me,” Niego said with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting that. I think it’s great that those moments happen in volleyball. The point of volleyball is to have fun and play your best.”
Service errors and falling behind early in both games would prove too much for Marist to overcome, although the RedHawks’ rally in Game 2 was an impressive one.
“We definitely learned from our mistakes,” Meyer said. “We learned just how we need to better ourselves. We need to work on our side and our side only from this point on.
“We won’t forget about it. It’s in the back of our heads. But we aren’t going to focus on it completely. We’re going to focus on ourselves.”
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