Manteno volleyball sweeps through Early Bird Invite, improves to 11-0: Saturday’s Daily Journal roundup

Manteno Early Bird Invite: The host Panthers (11-0) swept their home tournament Saturday, extending their season-opening winning streak to double digits. Grant Park (5-5) took third place while Clifton Central (5-5) took sixth, Watseka (3-6) took seventh and Grace Christian (1-5) took eighth.

Manteno picked up a 25-9, 25-18 win over Illinois Lutheran, a 25-9, 25-15 win over Grace Christian, a 25-7, 25-9 win over Clifton Central, and a 25-18, 25-18 win over Newark. Maddie Gesky posted 29 kills in the tournament while Maddy Belisle added 22. Olivia McElroy had 12 kills and a team-high seven blocks while Danika Fletcher had 48 assists and Morgan Derrico had 46 digs.

Grant Park beat Watseka 25-11, 25-16 to open the tournament. The Dragons then fell 25-20, 25-14 to Newark and 25-23, 25-16 to Sherrard before beating Illinois Lutheran 25-16, 25-18 in the third-place match. Clifton Central beat Grace Christian 25-17, 25-8 and fell 25-20, 25-19 to Illinois Lutheran and 23-25, 25-17 and 18-16 in a tight fifth-place match against Sherrard.

Watseka lost 25-23, 25-22 to Sherrard and 25-9, 25-18 to Newark before beating Grace Christian 25-9, 25-7 in the seventh-place match. Grace Christian also beat Illinois Lutheran 25- 13, 25- 21.

Manteno had Gesky, Belisle and McElroy make the All-Tournament team. Grant Park’s Taylor Panozzo and Camryn Karstensen also made the team, as did Clifton Central’s Gemma Sifrit, Watseka’s Liana Navas and Grace Christian’s Sarah Rauwolf.

No individual stats were immediately available for Grant Park, Clifton Central, Watseka or Grace Christian.

Plainfield Central Invite: Bradley-Bourbonnais had its boys and girls teams compete Saturday morning, with the boys (82 points) finishing second behind Lemont and the girls (170) placing eighth.

For the boys, Kyler Savini took fourth overall with a time of 16:27.50. Luca Nims was 20th, Dylan Weimer was 21st, Trey Lawrence was 22nd, Mathias Barman was 24th and Damian Ramirez was 26th.

On the girls’ side, Sophie Surface was the Boilermakers’ highest finisher in 22nd (21:38.17). Makenzie Goodman was 29th and Haley Torrenga was 34th.

Beecher 7, Reed-Custer 1: Beecher (2-2) went on the road and dominated Reed-Custer (0-5). Senior captain Miguel Corral scored a perfectly placed goal in the top left corner while senior Trevor Panozzo recorded a hat trick. Junior Pablo Avila scored two goals of his own. Senior Tyler Olson scored a goal as well.

On the other side of the field, Reed-Custer sophomore Jakub Lichaj scored the only goal for the Comets.

Cornerstone Christian 3, Herscher 1: Herscher (3-1) fell to Cornerstone Christian, but goalkeeper Gabe Kelley recorded 11 saves. Rowan Keigher scored the lone goal for the Tigers and was assisted by Jacob Benoit.

Iroquois West 3, St. Anne 1: The Raiders (3-2) went on the road and took the nonconference match at St. Anne (2-2-1). No stats were immediately available for either team.

Coal City Quad: Coal City put on a dominant performance at their home quad meet, earning 16 wins and first place ahead of Princeton (8), Rockford Christian (7), and Mendota (5).

At No. 1 singles, Melody Leman won two matches, earning solid wins over Mendota and Princeton. She fell to Rockford Christian’s undefeated Aurora Yeung in a highly contested final match.

At No. 2 singles, Kayla Stalter went perfect 3-0, only losing six games the entire night, while at No. 3 singles, freshman Charly Gray dominated her three matches, 3-0, and only lost five games the entire night.

At No. 1 doubles, Kyla Stark and Lanie Winke swept all three matches, including a shutout over Rockford Christian.

At No. 2 doubles, Aubrey Jensen and Vanna Liebermann added a sweep of their own and only lost three games in matches one and two.

At No. 3 doubles, Brooklyn Adams and Adyson Planeta provided an emphatic win of their own. They won two out of three matches against Mendota and Rockford Christian.