Providence tops Streator for 11th straight Class 3A regional volleyball title

After securing a close opening-set win in Thursday night’s Class 3A Crete-Monee Regional championship match, the subsectional top-seeded Providence volleyball team got a huge lift from senior libero Maddie Johnson against No. 5-seeded Streator.Johnson reeled off 14 straight point-earning serves – four via aces – to begin the set, and the Celtics went on to post a 25-22, 25-7 triumph over the Bulldogs. “You don’t expect serve runs like that, but you dream about them,” said Johnson, who finished with five aces and 16 service points. “We work a lot on our serving; it can be a big weapon for us. The key for me is trying to go completely blank in my mind, not think about anything and just serve. After the first couple of serves [to start the second set], I just really found a great rhythm and was able to keep my mind clear. “I had a few aces during that, but we also were really running a very quick and smooth offense. The first set was a tough one, but I feel like once we were able to win i