Maidens' season comes to an end after loss to Loyola in district tournament play-in match

FLORENCE — The Maidens’ season came to an end on Saturday after suffering a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to Loyola Sacred Heart in the play-in match of the District 6-B tournament in Florence.

FLORENCE — The Maidens’ season came to an end on Saturday after suffering a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to Loyola Sacred Heart in the play-in match of the District 6-B tournament in Florence.

The team came out strong by capturing the first set of the match 25-20, playing some of their best volleyball of the season according to head coach Naomi Mock.

“The first game was a thing of poetry with everyone doing their job,” Mock said. “It looked flawless from where I sat and showed what can happen when they all come together.”

Ronan had a chance to claim the second game as well, but would drop the set in extra points 27-25.

“I think that we might have let out a breath and let the second game slip just because we proved what we could do by winning the first one,” Mock said. “But [Loyola] played well and had some easy points given to them with serving that could have kept us out of that close of a game.”

The Maidens couldn’t regain their first game form in the final two matches either, falling in both 25-20 and 25-10 respectively.

While the loss put a damper on what was already a rough season for Ronan, Mock was pleased with how her team was able to play together down the stretch.

“All the players including the bench did their jobs,” Mock said. “We had some great plays made by certain members, but it took the whole team to play that well.”

Ronan outperformed the Breakers in kills (38) and digs (58), but just couldn’t overcome Loyola’s 12 blocks in the match. 

The two teams matched each other with 30 assists apiece, while Loyola held a slight advantage over the Maidens with nine aces to Ronan’s eight.

Sydnee Clairmont accounted for most of the Maiden’s assists, racking up 28 assists in the match, while Kendra Starkel pummeled the Breakers for 19 kills to lead the team.

Clairmont also compiled four aces on the day to top all Ronan players.

Alaina Madsen and Ashleigh Lynch turned in nine digs apiece to tie for the team lead and Raymi Clairmont came up with two of the Maiden’s three blocks in the match.

Ronan returns a majority of its lineup next season, while losing seniors Courtney Clairmont, Lynch and Larissa Witters.

And though it was a tough year, Mock believes the team will only get better going into next season and beyond.

“I always have a positive outlook and try to keep that even when the season may not be going well,” Mock said. “So, I am thinking each year as we grow this program will be better.”

Mock already has ideas on how to help improve the team for next year, emphasizing that each player should be ready to step up at a moment’s notice.

“As well as every year before, you come away with some things that you can start to incorporate to make the next year better,” Mock said. “I think stressing that fact that, as in life, it is a job and that it needs to be done by someone so if it is not you today it could be tomorrow.”