Blue Devils fall short to Moline in battle of top two WB6 teams

QUINCY -- The Quincy Blue Devils were on a roll going into Thursday's pivotal Western Big 6 Conference volleyball matchup against the Moline Maroons, with both teams entering the game undefeated in conference play. Moline continued its recent dominance of QHS with a 2-0 win, snapping a five-game winning streak by the Blue Devils. "They've been number one in the conference for a really long time," said QHS head coach Katelin Brown.

"We're both undefeated in conference, so we knew it was going to be a tough match. We had a few different things happen to us at the beginning of the game and we found out one of our starting outside hitters was injured and couldn't play today." The Blue Devils shuffled around their lineup with the loss of senior outside hitter Kaley Summers.



"That was a big (loss) for us, but we rallied around that," said Brown. "We were ready to support and do the things that we needed to do. We put a great lineup out.

I think we played very competitive, especially compared to year's past to now. It was completely different. We had the highest scoring we had against Moline in a long time.

" Moline was in control much of the first set and took it by a 25-18 margin. Quincy was neck and neck with the Maroons for much of the second set, but Moline would pull ahead to take it 25-21. "One thing we talked about in the locker room is that we had a lot of missed serves and that definitely cost us the game," said Brown.

"You can't rally on anything if you can't get a serve in." Blue Devils senior libero Abby Bunch had a team-high 16 digs and one ace. Quincy junior middle hitter Madison Loos chipped in three kills, one dig and one block.

QHS junior middle hitter Alyssa Farlow had four kills and three blocks. Blue Devils senior outside hitter Lydia Peters came through with two kills and one dig, while senior outside hitter Ayanna Douglas had one kill and two digs. Quincy junior setter Madelyn Hamby compiled four assists and an ace, while junior setter Kennedy Geiselman had five assists and junior middle hitter Edie Campbell had two kills.

"Alyssa Farlow and Lydia Peters on the block on the right side -- it was a block party," said Brown. "It always been for us all season." Newly inserted into the varsity lineup, sophomore defensive specialist Leah Knudson had four digs.

"We had sophomore Leah Knudson show up to play today and she's not a normal player for us because she plays on JV at libero," said Brown. "She got some time tonight and did a great job picking balls up. Her serve receive was phenomenal.

" Up next for QHS (9-3) is a road game against Jacksonville on Monday. "We're definitely ready to figure out what our lineup is going to look like without Kaley Summers with her injury," said Brown. "We'll find out more tomorrow.

We are trying to figure out that good rhythm and good feel to what we are going to do next.".