Angels volleyball had a big week with wins over Minooka and Hinsdale South. Left to right: Megan Cladis, Meghan Harrison and Jessica Simon pose after Thursday night’s victory.

Boys Soccer

Last Saturday, August 29th, the JCA boys soccer team lost 4-1 to Earlville-Leland at the Earlville HS – War on 34 Tournament in Earlville, IL. JCA is 1-3 on the year.

Girls Tennis

On Thursday night at Plainfield East, the JCA girls tennis program won over the Bengals 6-2. Nina Bertino won 6-0, 6-0 in number one singles. Michelle Robert won 6-4, 6-3 in singles. The doubles teams of Annie Payne and Lauren Siegfreid (6-0, 6-1), McCoy Hutchison and Maddie Bauer (6-0, 6-0), Makenna Earl and Claire Allgood (6-1, 6-3), and Katie MsSteen and Maddy Peters (6-0, 6-1) were all victorious for the Angels.

Earlier in the week in a triad against Sandburg and Lincoln-Way East the Angels dropped matches to the Eagles 6-1 and the Griffins 4-3. Maddie Bauer and McCoy Hutchison won 6-3, 6-0 in first doubles against Sandburg. In the loss against Lincoln-Way East, Nina Bertino won 6-0, 6-0 in first singles, the doubles tandem of Hutchison and Bauer, known as the “M&M Girls” won 6-0, 6-2 in first doubles. Lauren Siegfreid and Annie Payne also won in second doubles in three sets 6-7, 6-1, 10-2.

Girls Volleyball

The Angels won in two sets on Wednesday night in their home opener against Minooka; 25-23, 25-18. Click Here to read the entire game story.

JCA Girls Volleyball def. Hinsdale South 25-21, 25-17

It started with a “thumper” kill by Sarah Nahas.

The 5-foot-9 sophomore right-side hitter approached from the left pin, split the block and slammed down the loudest attack of her brief varsity career.

From that point on Thursday night, the JCA girls volleyball team took over offensively and rolled to a 25-21, 25-17 victory over host Hinsdale South in a sauna-like gym.

“We’ve been looking for Sarah to swing away like that,” Angels coach Christine Scheibe said. “It was the type of hit we call a ‘thumper.’ We really came alive after that.”

One night after a huge 25-23, 25-18 win over arch-rival Minooka, JCA (2-1) let an 8-4 lead in Game 1 slip away and then trailed 17-14 before Scheibe called timeout. The Angels rallied before taking a dominant 20-11 lead in Game 2.

Nahas’ kill sparked an offensive display that resulted in a season-high 23 kills, with junior outside hitter Taylor Zurliene leading the way with 8 kills. She added 5 digs and an ace.

Senior middle Andriana Acosta and senior setter/right-side hitter Jessica Simon (11 assists, 5 digs) contributed 5 kills apiece, and senior outside Megan Cladis (10 digs) delivered 4 kills.

Another strong serving performance saw senior middle Addy Alt, senior setter Megan Melone and Cladis each floor 2 aces. Melone continued her gritty all-around play with 11 assists and 6 digs.

Senior libero Meghan Harrison starred defensively with 12 digs and a 2.40 serve-receive rating. Former JCA and University of Wisconsin standout Annemarie Hickey reached out on Twitter and called Harrison’s effort “impressive.”

First a bump, followed by a thump.

“It’s really the first time we ran our offense the way it should be run,” Scheibe said. “We ran our offense really well, and it’s something that’s only going to get better the more that we play.

“We had our share of things that we know we have to clean up, but the good thing was the girls battled and did a nice job of avoiding a letdown after beating Minooka, which is inevitable.”

Notes: Senior defensive specialist Caroline Ley played in her second match of the season and junior outside hitter Kate Mihelich made her varsity debut … Acosta finished 5-for-5 in kills, a rare 1.000 hitting percentage … Zurliene put down 6 kills in her final 8 attempts … The Angels also have back-to-back matches in two weeks when they play Providence on Monday and Nazareth on Tuesday in East Suburban Catholic Conference action … The sophomore team remained undefeated by sweeping Hinsdale South, and the freshmen “A” and “B” teams also won.