Devils down LaBrae in straight sets to remain undefeated

(Staff photo / Preston Byers) McDonald’s Ava Salomone sets for a teammate during the Blue Devils’ home match vs. LaBrae on Monday.

McDONALD — The McDonald girls volleyball team remained perfect Monday, defeating LaBrae at home in straight sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-5) to improve its 2024 season record to 13-0.

Despite the Blue Devils picking up the non-conference win, the Vikings proved to be a frustrating, “ugly” matchup for McDonald coach Mike Klockner’s team.

“LaBrae’s a well-coached team and they have a scrappy defense, so we knew we were going to have to be smart offensively,” Klockner said. “And we weren’t hitting our spots. Their defense was doing an outstanding job getting our hits up. So it kind of threw us for a loop a little bit there.”

The match began competitively enough, with the teams trading points back and forth for the first half of the opening set. But things eventually started to go south for LaBrae.

After pulling back within two points to make it 15-13, the Vikings surrendered 10 of the set’s final 14 points as McDonald captured an early lead.

LaBrae similarly saw the second set slip away. Following a strong rally buoyed by a string of Shelby Bragg service aces to erase an early deficit in the set, LaBrae took an 18-17 lead.

McDonald, like it did in the first set, finished strong, though. The Blue Devils won eight of the final 10 points to win the second set and, unfortunately for head coach Courtney Kish and her Vikings, took hold of the match’s momentum.

“We had some moments of momentum in the second set, and I feel like starting out in the third set, we weren’t able to grab that momentum that we needed,” Kish said.

After back-to-back bitter set losses, LaBrae could not muster the energy to mount a comeback. Instead, McDonald dominated the third set, winning all but five points to earn its 13th victory of the season.

“We couldn’t grab any of that momentum,” Kish said of the lopsided third set. “Volleyball is very much a momentum game, and when you’re not able to grab any of it, it kind of makes it hard to keep in it.”

Monday’s loss is the fourth for LaBrae (12-4). The Vikings have only suffered defeats to still-unbeaten McDonald and Crestview, as well as Garfield, which began the season 8-0.

Kish hopes her team is learning from these losses.

“The biggest thing is to come in focused and ready to execute the game plan,” Kish said. “I think that sometimes, they’re not always ready to go. … We want to learn from a loss, so hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow.”

Klockner also wants his team to stay focused — on everything besides its 13-0 record.

“I haven’t mentioned it to them, ’cause it’s one game at a time,” Klockner said, “It’s a nice start, the best start we can have. But at the same time, every team you play is gonna be a challenge, and we have to get better each time.”

As long as the zero remains in the loss column and the win total keeps growing, though, Klockner is well aware that McDonald will be getting the best from opposing teams. Without drawing attention to the reason why, he has tried to convey that message to his girls.

“‘We have a target on our back and that we’re gonna get every team’s best look,’” Klockner said he told his team in practice recently. “They’re gonna be up to beat us, so we have to be ready for that. We have to come in ready for the best look we’ll get from each team.”

Springfield will get the next chance at handing McDonald its first defeat. The Tigers, who lost to the Blue Devils on Aug. 27, will host McDonald on Tuesday.

LaBrae will visit Champion today for its third of five consecutive away matches.