Carmel has designs on better results
Carmel Catholic’s girls volleyball team is sporting Pazely, and there is clearly a pattern.
First-year coach David Pazely’s Corsairs knocked off perennial-power Lake Zurich in their second match of the season. That was a first in senior setter/right side Megan Mowery’s four years on varsity.
“That was really uplifting that we actually won,” Mowery said, “because we had been beaten by them pretty handily in all the other times that we had played them.”
Carmel continued to look sharp Monday night, improving to 4-1 with a 25-19, 25-22 win over host Mundelein.
That was another first for the Corsairs in Mowery’s four varsity seasons.
See the pattern?
“We’ve come out really hard this year,” said Mowery, who contributed 8 assists, 7 digs and a block.
Pazely, a fifth-year teacher at Carmel and 2001 alumnus who was a three-sport athlete for the Corsairs, was the sophomore boys soccer and boys volleyball coach. He replaced John Uhrik, who left to take a teaching position at Wheeling.
Pazely, who played volleyball at Purdue, inherited a varsity squad that won 25 matches last season, before losing to Libertyville in the Class 4A Mundelein regional final. Besides Mowery, the Corsairs’ returnees include Southern Illinois-bound Taylor Pippen and fellow senior Jessie Wayland.
Wayland and Pippen had 5 and 3 kills, respectively, against Mundelein (1-2). Pippen added a pair of blocks, and Janelle Dewald dished out 12 assists.
Junior newcomer Caitlin Barry led Carmel with a match-best 8 kills. Barry had 3 kills in a row early in Game 2 and also had 6 digs on the night.
“She’s been leading the team in kills,” Pazely said. “She can play anywhere on the court, and she’s so smart when she hits her sets. She knows where to place it.”
Corsairs junior libero Maura Zawaski got her teammates pumped up during the second set with one of her team-high 10 digs. Zawaski showed great instincts by moving laterally to pop a ball into the air and keep it within reach of a teammate.
“She had an amazing dig,” Pazely said. “She had no time to react. It was awesome.”
Pazely’s squad should also benefit from a couple of sophomores. Middle Elizabeth Rengers got on the court against Mundelein, while the Corsairs hope to have Lauren Fournier (knee injury) ready for Wednesday’s match against Libertyville.
“They’re going to be good (contributors),” Mowery said.
Mundelein jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 1 and held a 17-16 lead after a kill by senior outside hitter Brittany Busscher. Busscher led the Mustangs with 8 kills and 2 blocks.
Sophomore Madi Wilcox and junior Courtney Perreault slammed 4 and 3 kills, respectively. Senior Karolina Sierzputowska posted 2 blocks, and senior Karen Chin set 36 of 36 with 10 assists.
“We’ve been playing hard all season,” said Mundelein coach George Dressen Jr., whose team also lost to Barrington. “We’ve been in each match. We’ve had little letdowns here and there that we’re trying to clean up. At times we’ve blocked well. We’re just working on our focus on the floor, maintaining it, and being aggressive with our serves.”