Palatine earns chance at regional title
Mid-Suburban West girls volleyball champion Palatine will try for another championship this week.
With its 25-12, 25-20 semifinal victory over No. 20 Highland Park on Tuesday, the No. 4 seeded Pirates advanced to the title match of the Rolling Meadows Class AA regional.
They will face No. 5 Glenbrook North at 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
Seniors Val Soderstrom, Cassie Chaplinsky and Taylor Fricano each put down 5 kills to lead the Pirates (25-11) on attack while classmates Sarah Schiffner (12 assists) and Alex Heidrich and (7) set the offense.
Casey Dolen (5), Fricano (4) and Kayla Kendzior (3) anchored the back row. Dolen also handled 11 serve receives.
Soderstrom led the Pirates with 3 blocks.
In the second semifinal, Glenbrook North eliminated the No. 12 Mustangs 23-25, 25-19, 25-19.
Morgan Keller and Jenny Vliet each had 8 kills while Rachel Mickey added 6 for Meadows.
Sami Kay (16 assists) and Vliet (12 assists) set the attack while top diggers were Grace Skorin (11), Amy Wenzel (10), Mia Harper (10), Rachel Mickey (9) and Lauren Sokolowski (6).
“Glenbrook North played well,” said Mustangs coach Joe DiSilvio. “Our passing broke down a few times in some rotations.
Meadows finished at 21-14, winning nine of its last 11 matches.
“It was a good second half of the season,” DiSilvio said. “The girls did a great job for the last quarter of the season.”