The Streaks (and Milestones) Continue

Mabel-Canton volleyball’s streaks of SEC domination continue.  They are at eight, six, and 105.  Two more individual milestones have also been passed.  First, M-C beat Schaeffer 3-0 (25-18, 25-7, 25-15).  It clinched the Cougars’ eighth straight perfect SEC regular season.  Frosh setter Kenidi McCabe (28 assists, 11 digs, 13-13 serving, 3 aces) went over 1,000 career assists.  She has over 800 just this year.  Dakota Delaney (9 kills, 3 aces) and Maddy Michels (9 kills) carried the offense. Avery Davis added 6 kills.  Lexi Thorson led the defense (12 digs).  Savannah Slafter rested.  A night later, East champ M-C (25-5) took on West champ GM (20-9) in the SEC Showcase game.  The Cougars had all hands on deck (Slafter, Payton Danielson).  They got out 9-3 in game one.  GM closed to 12-10.  A quick 4-0 spurt made it 16-10.  M-C prevailed 25-15.  The Larks came to play in game two.  After combining for four in game one, both Jordyn Glynn and Kaitlyn Hilton had six kills.  M-C’s only leads in the first 40 total points were 11-10 and 18-17.  Down the stretch was tight.  M-C was at set point (24-23).  Thanks to a Rylie Queensland block/kill combo, GM was then at set point (25-24).  Two Lark errors and a Slafter kill allowed M-C to steal the game 27-25.  Then came the Dakota Delaney show.  The 5’9” MH was All-SEC as a sophomore, but limited per injury last year.  The senior has been a go-to hitter (per Slafter’s injury) this year.  For roughly one stint in the front row in game three, she was on fire.  Literally every other point was a Delaney kill.  She had ten in the set.  M-C got the sweep (25-15, 27-25, 25-13).  Delaney (19 kills, .500 hitting) fell one-short of a career-high.  Slafter (12 kills, 10 digs) and Michels (11 kills) helped.  Slafter went over 1,000 career digs.  McCabe (50 assists, 13 digs) notched her second 50-assist match.  Hannah Snell (career-high 15 digs), Danielson (14 digs), and Thorson (15-15 serving, 3 aces, 9 digs) led the ‘D.”  The Cougars have now gone six years, 105 matches, without a loss to an SEC foe.