Palatine's competitive side show in Prospect's Pifer Invite

The annual Sandy Pifer Girls Volleyball Invitational at the Jean Walker Field House on Saturday was as competitive as it gets.

"That's what I love, a tournament that is competitive in every match," said Gabrielle Lovin, Prospect's first-year coach. "You've got to be on your toes every set."

Maine East (4-1) kept opponents on their toes again as the Blue Demons captured the Prospect High School event for the second straight year. Palatine (3-2) was second, followed by McHenry (2-3), Prospect (2-3), Lake Park (2-3) and Lake Zurich (2-3).

"Second place is always nice in these tournaments," said Palatine coach Dan Gavin, whose team improved to 15-7 overall and currently is one match out of first place in the Mid-Suburban West. "To be honest, I thought we played better last week (at Maine East tournament when the Palatine finished third behind De La Salle and Stevenson)."

But two days after the Maine East tourney, Palatine handed first place Schaumburg its first loss in the MSL West.

"That win really built up our confidence," said Pirates sophomore setter Sydney Christiansen, who helped build the Pirates' attack on Saturday with her 112 assists and earned a selection to the all-tourney team. "We wanted to go out and play hard that match because we knew they were undefeated in the conference. We play better when we have that energy. That's when we excel."

Excelling on offense for Palatine were all-tourney selection Heather Holz (75 kills), Meg Angelaccio (23 kills), Jessica Lundell (23 kills) and sophomore outside hitter Claire Chaplinsky (15 kills), who was making her first appearance of the season after undergoing knee surgery last spring.

"It was nice having Claire back," Gavin said. "She did a nice job finding her rhythm toward the end of the day."

Holz also ended as the team leader in blocks with 7.5

"Heather did a nice job in the middle," Gavin added. "And I thought Sydney (Christiansen) did a nice job working hard on focusing on being faster. She puts up a nice set when she does that."

Alyssa Kronberg led the Pirates' back row with 67 digs while Angelaccio picked up 46.

"Once we get our confidence we know we can work as a group and we can go far," Angelaccio said. "It was like a roller coaster day for us. But we executed and pull together."

Second place came down to the Pirates' final match when they topped Prospect 25-23, 25-18, rallying from an 11-7 deficit in Set 1.

Holz served the Pirates from a 11-9 deficit to a 13-11 lead, collecting back-to-back aces along the way.

The set was tied at 22 before Palatine won it on kill from Chaplinsky and set-winning kill by Alaina Mikkelsen.

Holz' kill on a quick set by Christiansen and an ace by Lundell gave the Pirates an 8-3 lead in Set 2.

Prospect (9-10) received 4 service points from Sammy Withey to tie the set at 13-13 but Palatine pulled away behind the serving of Alexis Serna, Lundell and Holz.

"It's the mental part of our play that we have to get over," Lovin said. "When physical fatigue sets in, we've got to pick up ourselves mentally."

Withey, a junior outside hitter, was a recent call-up from the junior varsity.

"Sammy was a huge asset," Lovin said. "She performed extremely well, and served great."

Withey had 11 kills, 27 digs and 9 aces in her varsity debut.

Other top performers for the Knights were Brenda Kendziera (9 kills), Carolyn Sherrick (7 kills, 2 aces), Catherine Sherwood (21 kills, 4.5 blocks), Maggie Porwit (11 kills, 9 blocks), Mary Mazurek (27 kills, 1 block, 6 aces), Nikki Matters (3 aces, 4 kills, 4 digs), Rachel Grippo (26 digs) and Sarah Cutaia (89 digs, 5 assists, 4 aces).

Setter Michelle Haaning (81 assists, 7 aces, 4 kills, 4 blocks) was named to the all-tourney team.

"We played well but didn't seem to have that last mental drive to push us over the edge," Lovin added. "We are gaining ground and becoming the team we envisioned at the beginning of the season."

Lexi Gora (57 kills, 6 aces, 48 digs, 5 blocks) earned all-tourney honors for Lake Zurich.

The Bears (7-12) gave tourney champion Maine East its most lopsided loss in any set 25-15, but then lost 25-18 and 15-10.

Early in the third set of that match the Bears lost the services of senior captain Mickenzie Andrews (head injury but no concussion), who would return later in the tourney.

She finished the day with 42 kills, 8 aces, 94 digs and 4 blocks.

Other statistical leaders for the bears were Hannah Sweetwood (24 kills, 62 assists, 37 digs, 9 blocks, 3 aces), Amanda Kamins (27 kills, 4 aces, 13 digs), Rachel Corrigan (11 kills, 4 blocks, 2 assists), Nicole Gaggiano (8 kills, 8 blocks), Kylie Dykgraaf (40 assists), Sienna Robertson (54 digs), Breanna Reitsch (34 digs), Marin Allgood (6 digs), Katie Guy (3 digs, 1 kill) and Emily Little (1 block).

"The girls stuck together," said Bears coach Matt Aiello. "We're really young and really talented. Sometimes they play brilliant volleyball, sometimes they get frustrated. But they have learned that no matter what, they don't give up.

"They have high expectations because they know how much talent they have and they know the past tradition of the program. I am really proud of the effort they are putting in."

Lovin was proud to be able to run a tournament named after Prospect's longtime Hall of Fame girls volleyball coach.

Pifer started the tourney more than 30 years ago.

"The Pifer Invitational is more than a tournament to the Knights," said Lovin, formerly Gabrielle Cottrell, an all-area volleyball and basketball player for Prospect in the early 2000s. "It is a representation of the passion and love that Sandy Pifer had for the game of volleyball and for coaching. She is a coach that I had the pleasure of watching lead her teams."

Lovin's goal was to run the invite with that same passion.

"I wanted the fans and players to enjoy the tournament but also have a competitive atmosphere," she said. "The tournament was competitive for sure. With most of all the matches going three games, the tournament title was up for grabs."

Grabbing the title was second-year coach Anne Bezek's Blue Demons (14-4), who went 0-5 in the event just three years ago.

Maine East has now gone 8-1 in the Pifer the last two years under Bezek, who was also East's coach from 2000 to 2004, the year when the Blue Demons went 23-11 and won a regional crown.