Eureka Volleyball Season Ends Against Blackburn, 3-0
EUREKA – The Eureka volleyball team 2021 fall season came to an end against Blackburn on Tuesday.
The Beavers topped the Red Devils 25-12, 25-18, 25-10 in the last match of the year at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.
Junior Regan Reed (Flanagan, Ill./Flanagan-Cornell) and freshman Alexis Charlton (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) each notched a team-high five kills in the loss for the Red Devils. Reed hit a team-best .333 on the night.
Senior Corinne DeBoard (Centralia, Ill./Christ Our Rock Lutheran) followed with four kills, while senior Emma Harris (Streator, Ill./Streator) and freshman Brooklyn Shell (Evansville, Ind./Harrison) each posted three kills.
Sophomore setter Faith Catour (Orion, Ill./Orion) registered 12 assists and freshman setter Baylor Cluver followed with seven.
Katelin Peters (New Berlin, Ill./New Berlin) and DeBoard each had a solo block, and DeBoard and Harris both teamed up for a block assist.
Libero Jordyn Fox (Pontiac, Ill./Pontiac) tallied a team-high 11 digs. Catour was two behind with nine.
Blackburn notched 10 more kills than Eureka on the night, finishing with 31-21. Lucy Magnussen led the way, racking up eight kills on 17 attacks with no hitting errors to record a .471 kill efficiency.
The most competitive set of the night was the second. The Red Devils and the Beavers were tied at 10-10 through 20 points and the teams stayed within two points of one another all the way up 19-17.
Eureka led by two at 12-10, 13-11, 15-11 and 17-17, but Blackburn closed with Set by catching fire and going on an 8-1 run.
The Red Devils never quite found their footing in the third and final set. Harris and Reed came up with back-to-back kills and a subsequent Blackburn attack error gave EC a 3-0 run late. Then, the match ended with a Eureka service error and an ace by Magnussen.
The match was the last for a trio of seniors who have given a lot to the program over the past few years.
Megan Masching (Pontiac, Ill./Pontiac) has been a mainstay in the back row for the Red Devils for the past three seasons. Harris, who joined the team last winter and became a dual-sport athlete, was a welcome addition whose athleticism often shined at the net, and DeBoard has been a key contributor as a middle and outside hitter and team leader for the past three seasons.
Eureka ends the season 4-20, finishing with five-set victories over Lawrence and Maranatha Baptist and a pair of sweeps over Principia.
