Tigresses streak at Reed-Custer

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There was a streaking comet in the Reed-Custer Lady Comet Classic at Braidwood Saturday’s and it was the color of blue.

The Princeton Tigresses streaked through the tournament field with a 5-0 record, defeating Fairbury Prairie Central 25-18, 25-19 in the title match. PHS opened with wins in pool play over Dwight 21-17, 20-21, Putnam County 21-4, 21-11 and Christ Lutheran 21-8, 21-7 and downed the host Comets 19-25, 25-10, 15-6 in the semifinals.

PHS coach Andy Puck said he talked to his girls during the week of practice about attitude, trusting their teammates and not getting down on one another and giving themselves chances and he found Saturday they listened with open ears.

PHS (18-3) received contributions from Slyvie Tracy (16 points, 32 digs), Steph Bonucci (11 digs), Lacey Jensen (5 kills, 4 blocks), Molly Stephens (79 assists, 9 aces, 41 points, Kaitlin Peterson (18 points), Jolyn Kane (19 kills, 26 points, 14 digs), Sarah Maynard (20 kills), Dani Compton (4 digs, 4 points), Allie Youngren (6 kills), Jacquie Kane (23 kills, 6 blocks) and Jordann Mason (10 kills).

“As a coach, I’m extremely proud of my kids. All the things we worked on on practice we executed on Saturday,” he said. “More than anything this weekend, it was a total team effort. All 12 kids got playing time.”

Puck said Jensen and Youngren really stepped up and played well in the middle after Mason went down with a knee injury in a collision with Stephens.

Hall went 2-1 in pool play with wins over Beecher 21-13, 21-9 and Deer Creek-Mackinaw 11-21, 21-10 and a loss to Momence 7-21, 21-14. After a 22-25, 25-24, 12-15 loss to Seneca, the Lady Devils finished with a 25-12, 24-25, 15-10 win over Putnam County.

Leaders on the day for Hall were Kaitlyn Raineri (35 points, 15 aces), Mickey Victor (24 kills), Christina Richardson (12 points, 4 aces, 6 blocks) and Kelle Nett (10 kills, 6 kills).

St. Bede finished first in the fourth bracket, defeating Henry for the second time in three days 25-11, 25-12. The Lady Bruins fell to Prairie Central 21-7, 21-14 and tied Morris 21-15, 12-21 and Seneca 17-21 and 21-18 in pool play and beat Beecher in the semifinals.

Leaders on the day for the Lady Bruins were Kayla MacDavitt with 23 kills and five blocks, Jillian Stariha with 28 assists, Taylor Miller with 28 points, 27 assists and nine aces, Molly Scott with 30 points, six aces, and 20 digs and Bethany Stavrakas with 11 kills and 14 digs.

At Rock Falls: Princeton took second place in Saturday’s Rocket Invitational sophomore tournament, falling to Sterling 25-18, 20-25, 15-8 in the title match. To get there, the Tigresses defeated Rochelle 16-20, 20-12, 15-6, Sterling 20-15, 20-14 and Erie 20-12, 20-10 in pool play and Newman 15-20, 25-15, 15-8 in the semifinals.