The Sentinel

Prep Sports Notebook: Atwood paces SJO golf team, Spartan soccer team fall short

Atwood leads Spartans at triangle meet

St. Joseph-Ogden's McGwire Atwood hits a shot off the 5th tee at Willow Pond Golf Course. SJO finished just two strokes out of tie for first at the triangle meet on Thursday. Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

RANTOUL -- McGwire Atwood shot a 42 to lead the Spartan contingent during a triangle meet on Thursday at Willow Pond Golf Course. The Spartans finished second in the three-school event by just two strokes over Rantoul's combined score of 178.

Jacob Kern and Ashten Cafarelli carded 42 and 43 strokes, respectively. Meanwhile, Maddux Carter and Jack Robertson shot a 50, and senior Connor Hale rounded out the top six with a 62.

Judah Christian's Caleb McCullough lead all players as the day's medalist with a nine-hole best of 37 strokes. The Tribe finished in third place with 187 points on a beautiful fall day in Rantoul.

Spartan soccer team fall at STM

There was no shortage of effort or chances by the St. Joseph-Ogden soccer team during their road match at St. Thomas More. The Spartans played a tight 90-minute game yielding one unanswered goal in each half to the host Sabers to lose, 2-0.

Keeper Hunter Ketchum made four saves for SJO. The Spartan soccer team is just two wins a away from a ten-win season at 8-3-1.

Unity soccer shutout by Rantoul

The Rockets were unable to score in their Illini Prairie match against the Eagles. Rantoul managed to get four shots past the keeper to win 4-0 in their regular-season conference match.

Williams steps up for SJO

Junior Peyton Williams lodged a team-high eight kills against Pontiac during St. Joseph-Ogden's home match on Thursday. The Spartans improve to 13-4 on the season after taking down the Indians in straight sets 25-16, 25-14.

Addie Roesch, also a junior, and Shayne Immke contributed six kills apiece to maintain SJO's undefeated conference record, now 3-0.

The Spartans top four players tallied 30 digs. Setter Taylor Hug, who distributed 20 assists, led the team with 10 digs. Roesch and Williams had seven apiece, and Immke added another six digs to the total.

The St. Joseph-Ogden volleyball team is off for six days, then resumes competition next Wednesday at Cissna Park. After the non-conference bout with the Lady Timberwolves, SJO is on the road again in search of a fourth Illini Prairie win on Thursday at Rantoul.

Despite sloppy start, SJO volleyball team rolls past Unity

TOLONO -- The Unity volleyball team came out swinging against visiting St. Joseph-Ogden in the Illini Prairie Conference match on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Rockets, the team was unable to maintain the intensity needed in the 2-0 loss to the Spartans.

It is rare that SJO head coach Abby McDonald calls a timeout early in a match, but four serves into the first set and down 4-0 on the scoreboard against Unity, she signaled to the referees for a brief halt as the Rockets' dominant play had her team out of sorts. After the action resumed, the Spartans struggled, but were able to methodically work brief moments of magic to keep the game in reach.

The two teams tied up the score five times in the first set until St. Joseph-Ogden's Shayne Immke's block put her team up 19-18. Firmly in system, SJO then won six of the next eight points to win, 25-20.

Emmalee Atkins tries to tip the ball over St. Joseph-Ogden's Peyton Williams

Unity's Emmalee Atkins tries to tip the ball over St. Joseph-Ogden's Peyton Williams. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Immke would finish the match with five kills and seven digs.

With the momentum squarely on their half of the court and Taylor Hug at the service line, the Spartans hammered out an 8-0 lead over their headlight-struck host to start the second half.

"Taylor has a very high volleyball IQ. She is the quarterback of our team." McDonald said. "She will do everything she can to win behind the service line."

Hug led the team's service effort with three aces. She was the game leader in assists with 14.

She added, with an appreciative smile, "She typically has a plan even if it is different than mine."

Hug and the Spartans, who were now firmly playing in system, continued to pile on points building a 15-point lead on the Rockets to go up, 20-5. The match ended with SJO up by 15, 25-10.

"We were not taking care of the ball," said Unity head coach Erika Yerry. "We need to work on consistency."

Junior outside hitter Addie Roesch putaway six kills and served two aces for the Spartans. Immke added another five kills and notched half of the 14 digs between her and Hug's defensive effort. Mikyla Haley tallied 10 digs and was credit with two of the team's seven aces.

"We played with a lot of confidence," McDonald said critiquing her team's second set performance. "When get our left side swinging early and our right, it really affects our opponents."