Ace Setter Helps M-C to 22nd Title

The streak continues.  Maybe it’ll end someday.  Someday.  Mabel-Canton volleyball (10-0, 26-2) went through its two nearest foes in the standings to shore up a 22nd straight shared or out-right SEC title.  And while each Cougar has plenty of volleyball skill (as always), junior setter Kenidi McCabe led the way.  Virtuoso is a decent word to describe the 5’4” junior.  In the Cougars’ 3-0 sweep of SEC-East second place squad Spring Grove (8-2, 16-6), McCabe had 5 kills, 29 assists, 12 digs, and 6 aces.  Sarina Stortz (10 kills, 3 blks), Payton Danielson (8 kills, 15 digs), Emily Carolan (6 kills), and Molly Lee (12 digs) helped.   Maggie Lile had 17 digs to pace the Lions.  The win guaranteed M-C at least a share of the SEC-East.  Two nights later, Lonnie Morken’s crew trekked to play SEC-East third place squad Lanesboro (8-3, 14-12).  The Burros recently swept SG too.  There was some intrigue, until McCabe set a tone.  After Lanesboro got off to a 3-0 start in game one, K-Mc, M-C’s first server, promptly ran off nine straight points (five aces) for a 10-3 lead.  The Burros battled and had a couple runs (including a three ace Sydney Taylor serving session), but the Cougars took game one 25-18.  Game two saw McCabe throw out four more aces in an easy 25-10 victory.  Game three was the most competitive, with seven early ties.  But a three-point McCabe serving session expanded M-C’s lead to 11-7.  Lanesboro got as close 15-13, but M-C ended on a 7-0 run for the 25-15 win, the 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-10, 25-15).  McCabe’s rare triple-double (assist-ace-dig) slash near quadruple-double (8 kills, 25 assists, 11 digs, 24-26 serving, 10 aces) led the way.  Stortz had a team-high 10 kills and 4 blocks.  Danielson (8 kills, 7 digs), Carolan (5 kills), Jordyn Newgard (5 kills, 8 digs), and Lee (10 digs) helped.  Taylor (14 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces) had more than half her team’s kills.  Sophomore setter Ella Cambern (13 assists, 13 digs) was busy.  Kaci Ruen (5 kills, 13 digs) and Payton Benson (12 digs) helped.  M-C (12-0, 28-2) takes the SEC-East crown.  Lanesboro (8-4, 14-13) has a four-match win streak ended.  McCabe has multiple aces in eight straight matches, 22 total matches, and four or more eleven times.  She has 103 aces on the year.