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St. Anthony girls volleyball picked the perfect time to play their best volleyball. The Saints have won 27 of their last 28 sets, and picked up their eighth sweep in their last nine games with a sweep over Arlington in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs, 25-18, 25-18, 25-15.
“I can’t express how thankful I am for this team and they deserve all the credit, all the recognition. All the success is all them,” said first-year Saints coach Kassidy Harrington. “I just got really lucky with a lot of really good athletes who are humble, kind and respectful. This is just a result of the work they’ve been putting in to see our success.”
Arlington stayed knotted up with St. Anthony within the first few points before the Saints eventually took an 8-6 lead and never looked back. The Saints spread the ball around and played a clean game, led by setter Maddison Stranz who dished out a game-high 25 assists. Stranz also chipped in a game-high four aces and three kills.
“I love being able to play clean volleyball like today and I love being put under pressure because it pushes me to be a better player and pushes me to help my teammates be better,” said Stranz of the team-oriented playoff win. “I just love seeing them succeed on the court and smile and it just makes me play my best volleyball.”
Stranz helped set up her outside hitters such as Quinn Bell, who finished with a game-high 12 kills with three aces. Brooke Jondle also chipped in 10 kills, while Brianna Mbire and Makayla Sheperd each finished with five.
“We just had to be in the right mindset,” Bell said. “We bond with each other before the game and we talk through every play. We play for each other, not for ourselves, and for our team’s success, not for our individual success.”
“In this sport you can’t just do it with one player, and you can tell in our games that we get it done with different players,” added Harrington of her team’s hitters. “One game it can be (Shephard) and (Bell), another game it can be (Mbire) and (Jondle). What’s cool about it is that we work as a team. It’s like an engine. With pieces missing it throws everything off, but when we work together we’re a well oiled machine.”
St. Anthony opened the second and third sets on runs of 8-2 and 5-0 respectively, and led by as much as double digits. Alongside strong performances from their outside hitters, the Saints also served well with a team total of 14 aces including an ace from Shephard at game-point.
St. Anthony will host their second round matchup in the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs against first seeded Canyon on Saturday at 6pm.
