The Mount Pulaski Lady Toppers open the 2018 volleyball season with a win over Williamsville

[August 29, 2018] 

This is the season Mount Pulaski’s Abigail Fitzpatrick, Skylar Hayes, Madison Thomas and Morgan May have been looking forward to. The four are finally seniors and bring a lot of Varsity experience with them in their final high school season. Throw in libčro and fellow senior Savanah Moore, who moved to Mount Pulaski her sophomore year, and Coach Donna Dulle has a hungry group of veterans.

The team took the court Tuesday night in front of a pumped up home crowd versus Williamsville and with some outstanding contributions from juniors Paige Stewart, Taylor Trimmer and Isabella Wade and sophomore Chloe Olson, the Lady Toppers were able to notch win number one on the season. The Williamsville Lady Bullets brought their “A” game to the Hilltop and they didn’t make it easy at all for the home team. Mount Pulaski squeaked by Williamsville 30-28 in set one. Set two was a tad bit less stressful for Coach Dulle as Mount Pulaski won 25-18.

Set One 30-28

Despite kills from Skylar Hayes and Abigail Fitzpatrick early on, Mount Pulaski found themselves trailing quickly 7-5 to Williamsville in set one. An ace from Madison Thomas and another kill from Fitzpatrick tied the game at 7-7, but again Mount Pulaski would fall behind a couple points. A block by Hayes allowed the Lady Toppers to knot the score 11-11. Morgan May’s serve that just grazed the net and landed in the front row without any Lady Bullet getting a hand on it gave Mount Pulaski their first lead, 12-11 the score. Kyla Sidener kept the Lady Bullets in the thick of things.

With perhaps the best kill of the night, Sidener soared and got on top of the ball and slammed it right down on the newly-designed gymnasium floor. You know it’s a good one when even the Mount Pulaski crowd whispers, “Wow!” to each other. Mount Pulaski still held a 13-12 lead though. With Paige Stewart coming up big with a block and a kill, Mount Pulaski was able to maintain a 15-13 lead. May contributed a kill to extend the Lady Topper lead to 17-14. But the Lady Bullets went on a 4-0 run and not only got even but took a 20-18 lead over Mount Pulaski after the Lady Toppers were caught out of rotation. It’s those little mistakes that add up sometimes. After Mount Pulaski was called for an illegal hit a couple plays later, Williamsville took a 22-20 lead. Still Mount Pulaski wasn’t shaken.

Hayes is clutch on the court, no matter what ball she touches, and she came through with three kills. The last kill by Hayes tied the score at 24-24. A tip by Thomas gave Mount Pulaski the 25-24 advantage. This time a huge kill by Sidney Craig of Williamsville knotted the score 25-25.

Now things were getting intense and for some fans even a little shaky. A serve gone long by the Lady Bullets and a hit into the net by Mount Pulaski just kept things interesting. After some time-consuming volleys to keep fans on the edge of their seats, the score remained tied, 28-28 this time.

With Thomas at the serving line for Mount Pulaski, her serve was good and about five minutes later the volley ended with Williamsville hitting the ball out of bounds. A point goes to the Lady Toppers, as does the 29-28 lead. Thomas served game point and as the Lady Bullets were trying to set up a play, Maria Martin got called for being in the net for Williamsville. Mount Pulaski fans breathed a sigh of relief as the Lady Toppers took set one 30-28.

Set Two 25-18

Set two began with Mount Pulaski digging themselves into a little hole again. Although trailing 7-3 early on was the worst that happened to Mount Pulaski in set two. Honestly Fitzpatrick brought her team back with a couple sneaky tips and a kill before Hayes joined in with back-to-back kills to give the home team the 9-8 advantage.

Sophomore Chloe Olson, who stepped up big time at the Varsity level, came up clutch with a block and extended the Lady Topper lead to 10-8.

Abigail Fitzpatrick was consistent at the serving line all night long for Mount Pulaski.

With Fitzpatrick at the serving line, Mount Pulaski was in the driver’s seat and before long the lead was up to 14-8. Fitzpatrick was doing it all in this one. After her next serve, she was ready to go for the kill and indeed she did. With one swing she gave her team a 15-8 lead. The momentum was all Mount Pulaski now.

After a tip by Hayes landed deep in no man’s land, Mount Pulaski was up 16-9. Following a couple nice kills by Fitzpatrick, Mount Pulaski kept their commanding 21-16 lead.

Olson was feeling comfortable by now, too. She not only set the ball with command, but between the kills, digs and tips, she proved she’s an all-around player. She played brilliantly and helped keep Mount Pulaski on top 22-17. In fact, Mount Pulaski was able to put set two away 25-18 after Olson and Stewart combined on the block. A nice ending to an eventful evening. Lots of sweat left on that new gym floor.

The Lady Toppers, with t-shirts in hand to toss out to the fans, are ready for the home opener.

Fitzpatrick verbally commits to SIU-C

Abigail Fitzpatrick led Mount Pulaski with 12 kills, 12 digs and 2 aces. The senior recently committed to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale to play volleyball. Fitzpatrick was dripping with the sweat following the win, yet she was all smiles about her decision to be a Saluki.

The Saluki’s have had their sights set on Fitzpatrick for a while but it was her time spent at camp there this summer that sealed the deal for her. “I fell in love with it (SIU-C) this summer,” said the 5’9 senior who will play libčro for the Salukis. “Just being down there and the environment and getting to spend time with the players and with the coaches. I obviously talked to the coaches before, but getting to be around them and getting a feel for their coaching style a lot more helped me. They really pushed me while I was there. They didn’t baby me. They were actually teaching me things while I was there and I really enjoyed that.”

SIU-C is getting a good one here. Fitzpatrick’s work ethic is in that category reserved for elite athletes. She pushes herself to be better every day and her positive attitude rubs off on others. She’s evolved into a team leader and that is something that Coach Dulle recognizes and appreciates.

“She can take care of herself and the team both,” noted Dulle. “Abigail can control what she does and then she is able to make sure everybody else is doing okay on the team.” Dulle likes that Fitzpatrick is the type of player that knows not only what she is supposed to be doing, but what everybody else is supposed to be doing on the court. She’s really evolved into a great leader on the court for the Lady Toppers and that’s not all Dulle likes about her standout senior. Dulle is pleased Fitzpatrick chose Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

“That’s my alma mater. She picked the right school,” smiled Dulle. Dulle was in the Class of 1977 at SIU-C and while she never played volleyball, the coach did say, “I played softball for one year down there. I was a pitcher. My sister, Ruth, played, too. I wasn’t very good. I was on the JV team.”

Well then, it’s a good thing this volleyball coaching gig has worked out for Dulle.

Back to Tuesday night’s season-opening win, Fitzpatrick and company were obviously clicking on many cylinders in order to grind out the victory. But a key component to that success was communication, according to Fitzpatrick. “Communication for sure,” she said. “Like knowing where you’re at on the court and knowing your role is important, especially at the end of the game when it’s tough. Like you know when you have to get that dig. You know when you have to step up and be a leader. You know when you have to make that kill. And like the setter’s job, you know you have to get the ball to the right place. You have to do that all the time, but it’s really important to talk about it at that point.”

The fine play of Olson didn’t go unnoticed by the senior either. “Oh she did really good,” said Fitzpatrick of the sophomore. “She stepped it up. She came in the game and got a block and then she got a kill. And she got so many assists.”

SIU-C commit Abigail Fitzpatrick and UIS commit Skylar Hayes show off smiles and a sweaty glow following the first win of the season.

One other note to mention - Skylar Hayes verbally committed over the weekend to further her academic and athletic career at the University of Illinois-Springfield. No surprise here that the standout athlete has chosen to pursue basketball. When the basketball season gets underway following volleyball, Hayes will be aiming for yet another scoring milestone. The senior is just 13 points away from tying the MPHS girls all-time scoring record set by Jessica Awe.

Both Hayes and Fitzpatrick will officially sign on the dotted line in November. Stay tuned.

JV scores to report:

Williamsville JV won in three sets over Mount Pulaski JV. The scores were 25-17, 11-25 and 15-7.

Mount Pulaski will play Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at Athens.

Mount Pulaski Varsity Stats

Savanah Moore 7 digs
Chloe Olson 2 kills 8 assists 3 digs 2 blocks
Abigail Fitzpatrick 12 kills 12 digs 2 aces
Taylor Trimmer 4 digs
Morgan May 2 kills 7 digs 1 ace
Madison Thomas 4 digs 1 ace
Paige Stewart 2 kills 3 blocks
Isabella Wade 14 assists 4 digs
Skylar Hayes 8 kills 9 digs 2 blocks

Williamsville Varsity Stats

Kyla Sidener 11 kills 2 blocks
Sidney Craig 8 kills 6 digs 1 assist
Emily Roberts 12 digs
Ellie Pensabene 16 assists 6 digs
Brooke Hayward 3 assists

[Teena Lowery]