Article and photos by T Ray Henry
On Monday, September 28th, the Marshall High School junior varsity volleyball team hosted the St. John’s Lutheran School (Mattoon) Eagles in a non-conference match inside McNary Gymnasium. St. John’s is currently in their second year of offering high school classes, so they are once again playing a junior varsity schedule this season. In 2027-2028, the Eagles plan to have both a varsity and junior varsity schedule for volleyball. In its most recent outing, St. John’s brought home third place in a tournament at Windsor, so the Eagles presented a formidable challenge for the young Lions, who came in with a record of 5-7.
The close match tonight went the distance, with Marshall winning the contest in three sets 19-25, 25-23, and 15-11.
In the opening set, St. John’s got out to an early 2-0 lead before Marshall scored on a block by Olivia Strohm and Libby Huisinga to make it 2-1. The Lions fell behind again before Breck Bishop scored on a kill, then Bishop and Aubrie Ockerman combined on a block to tie the set at 6 apiece.
The teams began a back-and-forth battle where neither team held a lead of more than three points until they were tied up again at 17. Scoring for Marshall along the way were Aubree Shaffer with a kill and an ace, Breck Bishop with a tip winner, Olivia Strohm with a kill and an ace, Lauren Richards with an ace, and Libby Huisinga with a kill. From that point on, however, St. John’s outscored Marshall 8-2 to win the first set by the score of 25-19.
After struggling with dialing in the serve during the opening set, the Lions served much better in Set #2. A good starting point was when Lauren Richards served to open the set, and she scored an ace to give Marshall a 1-0 lead. After Libby Huisinga scored a kill to tie it up at 2, Olivia Strohm served an ace, then Aubree Shaffer scored a kill as the Lions held a 4-2 lead.
With the set tied at 4 apiece, Aubree Shaffer scored a kill before Libby Huisinga served an ace, and once again, Marshall had a two-point lead at 6-4. The Big Red extended their lead to 10-5 with an ace served by Lexi Mason. The Lions then went ahead 12-6 when Libby Huisinga served another ace.
The Lions led by as many as seven with the score 14-7 before St. John’s mounted a comeback to trail by two points with the score 14-12. Marshall stopped the Eagles’ run when Lauren Richards scored on a winning hit to give the homestanding Lions a 15-12 lead. Richards then stepped up to the serving line, and after serving two aces and the Lions scoring two more points, Marshall led 19-12 as St. John’s called for a time out.
Marshall stayed ahead to the finish, and with Aubree Shaffer highlighting the scoring with a tip winner, Marshall came away with the second set by the score of 25-23 to send the match to a third and deciding set to 15 points. The seven aces by the Lions were the most aces served in a set all season.
In the third and deciding set, Marshall got out of the gate 2-0 with a combination block by Libby Huisinga and Aubrie Ockerman followed by an ace served by Lauren Richards. Another ace served by Olivia Strohm followed by a tip winner from Libby Huisinga gave the Lions a 5-2 lead. St. John’s then scored three straight points to tie the set at 5 before back-to-back kills by Aubree Shaffer and Breck Bishop put the Lions up by two with the score 7-5. Marshall would then go up 9-5 when Libby Huisinga served an ace as St. John’s called for a time out.
St. John’s came right back with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 10 apiece before Marshall’s Lauren Richards scored a huge kill to give Marshall an 11-10 lead. Aubree Shaffer then served a critical ace, and Breck Bishop scored on a big tip to give the Lions a 13-10 advantage and get them within two points of winning the match. St, John’s scored the next point to get within two at 13-11, but a ball hit into the net gave Marshall a 14-11 lead. On the next point, the ball went back and forth over the net before Marshall scrambled on defense, then Lexi Mason set the ball on the right side of the formation as Lauren Richards jumped high in the air and struck a kill through the St. John’s block for Marshall to win the set 15-11 and take the match two sets to one.
Marshall’s JV (6-7) and varsity (15-6) teams travel to Olney today (Tuesday, September 29th) to play Richland County High School in an LIC doubleheader. Junior Varsity action is scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM with the varsity contest to follow.
Lauren Richards (7) scores the winning point of the match for Marshall to beat St John's Lutheran in three sets
Aubrie Ockerman (10) blocks a strike and wins the point for Marshall against St John's Lutheran
Aubree Shaffer (2) hits the ball backwards over the net to keep the point alive for Marshall
Breck Bishop scores a kill for Marshall against St John's Lutheran
Marshall's Libby Huisinga (3) threads a kill between the blockers from St John's Lutheran