Article and Photos by T Ray Henry
On Thursday, September 17th, the Marshall High School volleyball team welcomed IHSA Class 2A #8 Effingham St. Anthony to McNary Gymnasium for a non-conference doubleheader. It was USA Night for the Marshall student section, with an appearance by Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill”, conjuring up memories of the 1970’s, and General George Washington made a cameo during the varsity match.
Students and fans in attendance at The Mac to see how the Lions matched up against the Top Ten ranked Lady Bulldogs. St. Anthony came into the contest with a record of 9-1, while Marshall came in with a record of 12-5. What is prominent when looking at St. Anthony’s record and results is the fact that they had only lost a total of three sets in the 2026 season (two to Class 1A #5 ALAH and one to 2A #19 Fairfield). In their last match played on Tuesday night, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Cowden and swept Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City by the scores of 25-6 and 25-5. Last Thursday, St. Anthony swept Robinson while boat racing the Lady Maroons 25-5 in the second set. In their last two matches, St. Anthony outscored their opponents 100-33. To say that this match did not present a formidable challenge for Marshall would be akin to saying that scaling the summit of Mount Everest is like a walk in the park.
In the opening set, Marshall stayed close with St. Anthony, scoring their first point on a nice tip winner by Lily Shotts. A Harper Richardson tip winner and two kills by Lilly Ross helped the Lions gain a tie at 5. From that point on, the Lady Bulldogs scored two points for every one point scored by the Lions as St. Anthony steadily pulled away in winning the opening set 25-14. Ellie Delp scored three kills for the Lions in the opening set to highlight the scoring.
With the St. Anthony crowd confident the Lady Bulldogs would easily win the second set as they had in each one of their wins this season, someone forgot to tell the Marshall team they were supposed to just be happy to be playing on the same floor with a machine that gets to recruit their athletes from far and wide with a senior nucleus that already has a state Final Four run under their belts (2024) to go along with multiple conference and regional championships.
To begin the second set, the Lions bolted out of the gate to a 5-1 lead with a kill from Lilly Ross, a block winner by Ellie Delp, and a tip winner by Harper Richardson. Marshall maintained their 5-point lead when Ellie Delp smashed a kill from the left side to make the score 7-2.
After an exchange of points made it 8-3, St. Anthony got within 3 at 8-5 before Marshall’s Lilly Ross scored a kill and a tip winner for the Lions to regain their 5-point lead at 10-5. When the Lady Bulldogs got back within 3 to make the score 11-8, Lilly Ross scored on a kill and then served an ace for Marshall to lead by 5 again with the score 13-8.
Each time St. Anthony got the score within 3 points, Marshall would respond by scoring to increase their lead to 5. Kills by Harper Richardson, Lilly Ross, and McKenzie Davis, combined with a tip winner from Libby Huisinga, gave the Lions a 19-14 lead.
When the St. Anthony side of the gym was certain an inevitable run by the Lady Bulldogs would tie and surpass what was presented as their largest deficit at any point of the season, Marshall kept its foot on the gas pedal. Ellie Delp served up a big ace to increase Marshall’s lead to 6 with the score 20-14, then McKenzie Davis scored on a tip winner to make it 21-14 as St. Anthony called time out.
Coming out of the time out, the two sides exchanged points to make the score 23-16 before Marshall’s Lilly Ross scored on a tip over the St. Anthony block to make it 24-16, then Ross stepped up to the serving line in front of a loud, frenzied Lions student section and served an ace to win the second set wire to wire by the score of 25-16, making Marshall just the third, and first unranked, team to win a set against St. Anthony, who looked like they were seeking help from the patron saint of stolen articles (their school’s namesake). The second set was by far the best the Marshall team played on a volleyball court in many years. Ali Sheets, Lauren English, and McKenzie Davis got digs along the back row that were like rockets fired from the other side of the net. The yips which were present in the first set (trouble with serving, hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds, spacing, passing, and angle issues) seemed to solve themselves in the second set.
In the third and deciding set, the Lions came in with the knowledge that they can compete with the best teams in the state if they play together, move as one, and stay confident. Alas, after a 3-3 tie, St. Anthony steadily pulled away once again by scoring two points for every Marshall one point, leading at one juncture by 9 points (14-5). The Lions, however, had one more fight left in them as they reduced the Lady Bulldogs’ lead down to 5 by outscoring the visitors 8-4. Harper Richardson, Lily Shotts, Lilly Ross, Libby Huisinga, and McKenzie Davis each scored for Marshall to get within 18-13 as St. Anthony called what turned out to be a pivotal time out with Marshall holding all the momentum for an epic comeback. Unfortunately for the Lions, St. Anthony would score 7 straight points to win the final set 25-13 and take the match two sets to one.
If this match did one thing, it showed these Lions they belong in the conversation for conference and regional supremacy so long as they go back, watch the film, and fix the minute details which were exposed against the Lady Bulldogs. Bottling up how they performed in the second set tonight will be the key for this squad’s future success, for hanging tough with a top ten team buoys well for the Lions as they enter the final five weeks of the regular season with every goal they have still in front of them.
Statistical Highlights...
Aces - Ross 2, Delp 1, Davis 1
Assists - Richardson 13, Ross 8
Kills - Ross 10, Richardson 7, Delp 4
Blocks - Richardson 1
Digs - Ross 7, Davis 6, English 6
In the junior varsity match, the young Lions also turned in their best set of the season in the opening set when they took the undefeated Lady Bulldogs, who have not lost a set this year, all the way to the end before falling 25-23. The energy expended in the opening set was not replicated in the second set of a 25-14 loss. Lauren Richards, Breck Bishop, Allie Thompson, Libby Huisinga, Aubree Shaffer, and Olivia Strohm each scored for the Lions.
Marshall (12-6) plays their next match Monday, September 21st when the Lions travel to St. Joe-Ogden High School to take on the Trojans in a non-conference doubleheader. Junior varsity action begins at 6:00 PM with the varsity contest to follow.
Lily Shotts serves for Marshall against St Anthony in front of the Lions student section
The Lions and their fans celebrate winning the second set against St Anthony
Lilly Ross serves to begin the third set between Marshall and St Anthony
Marshall's student section was in the match from start to finish