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.
Ace Setter Helps M-C to 22nd Title
