Time out right on time

ROCK FALLS – Jay Howell had seen enough.

The Newman volleyball coach stood up Thursday and called timeout late in the second game of the Comets’ Class 2A Rock Falls Regional semifinal match against Morrison.

Newman was only two points away from moving onto Saturday’s final, but he recognized what the Fillies were doing.

The Comets came back with a pair of points to seal the match 25-22, 25-19.

“The last time we played Morrison they had made a run near the end,” Howell said. “I just pulled the girls over and reminded them of that.

“Morrison is very good at hanging. They also block really well, which makes it hard to get into a groove.”

The Comets reached 23 points and stalled. Morrison’s Erin Carney served the next three points to draw the Fillies within 23-19. Morrison (9-21) played its best down the stretch of Game 2.

“I wish we had done that the whole time,” Morrison coach Jennifer Medenblik said. “The girls just weren’t talking to each other out there and that lack of communication cost us.”

The Comets started the night a little unsteady, particularly from the service line. Newman (19-9) had nine service errors in the first game alone.

“I think it had a lot to do with nerves,” Newman setter Kaitlon Busser said. “It’s not like us to serve like that. It makes it hard to get into rhythm when you serve like that.”

Morrison led 9-5 early in the match before the Comets started to recover. Brianna Richardson got the comeback started with kill and block sandwiched around a Morrison hitting error.

The score was tied 10-10, then at 12 before the Comets gained their first lead, 13-12, on a Sarah Prendergast kill.

Busser led Newman with 10 assists, six points and two kills. Prendergast added eight kills, and Sarah Cesarek had eight digs.

Carney had eight points and five kills for Morrison, and Shelby McBride added five assists.