MCDONALD — Maria Rasile and Megan Zajack have a couple of goals in mind for the McDonald Blue Devils volleyball team this season.

Rasile and Zajack are the only seniors on the Devils’ volleyball team and they’d like to win a conference title and advance further in the tournament to close out their high school careers.

Last season, the Devils were 16-5 and finished second in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference behind Western Reserve.

However, McDonald was bounced out of the postseason in the first round by Newton Falls.

“We expected to win that first playoff game,” Zajack said. “We thought we were going to go farther. It was rough. We didn’t work together. We didn’t play well.”

So far, the Devils have been playing very well in 2022. McDonald hosted Jackson-Milton on Tuesday, and made quick work out of the Blue Jays with a 25-5, 25-11, 25-14 straight-set victory.

“I think this game shows what we’re capable of,” Zajack said. “It shows what we can do when we work together.”

Megan Klockner (game-high 31 assists and 16 digs) was working with Rasile, who finished with a game-high 19 kills.

“This was our first home game,” Rasile said. “So, I think we were all excited and hyped up for tonight. We all clicked together.

“We’ve been looking forward to this season. We fell a little short of the goal last year. Hopefully, we can win our league and have a long run in the tournament.”

McDonald (3-0) coach Mike Klockner feels the same way.

“We’re off to a great start,” he said. ” We’ve beaten three great teams. Hopefully, it sets the tone for the rest of the season. We work hard at having a consistent level of play. So far, we’ve done that this year.

“Last season ended sooner than we wanted it to. That kind of stuck with us. It’s been a big motivator for us to not let that happen again.”

The Jays were battling to keep the game alive in the third set. Mia Greco had a big spike, and the score was 11-8 Devils.

After a long volley, Greco touched it over for another point for the Blue Jays (1-1).

Greco led Jackson-Milton with two blocks. Paige Grope had a team-high five assists, and Emily Fultz led the way with eight digs.

“We’re coming off of a straight-set victory over Mathews on Monday,” Blue Jays coach Stephen Mohr said. “McDonald plays hard. They worked us on the outside, and we couldn’t find an answer. We couldn’t get our offense going.”

McDonald had plenty of offense thanks to a game-high 14 service points from Lauren Sierra, and 11 digs by Miley Titus.

Gianna Costantino had a triple-double with 12 service points, 12 digs and 10 kills. After Rasile jumped high into the air for a kill to extend the advantage, Costantino closed out the match with a two-handed touch.

“We had great passes,” coach Klockner said. “We need to maintain this level of play. Everything is clicking.”

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