Carmel keeps it going with win over Wheeling

Carmel Catholic's girls volleyball team entered its first match of the postseason following one of its most impressive wins of the regular season.

The Corsairs pulled off a three-set win at Libertyville last Friday night, winning the third set 28-26 after trailing 22-15.

Even more impressive, the Corsairs did it without Drake recruit Gracie Schofield, an outside hitter who had sprained her ankle the night before.

Schofield was still out of the lineup when the No. 3 seeded Corsairs faced No. 14 Wheeling in the Wildcats' Class 4A regional on Tuesday night.

But the Corsairs were still winning.

Led on attack by senior Morgan Meade's 9 kills, Carmel posted a 25-18, 25-16 victory over the Wildcats (17-20) to advance to Thursday's championship against No. 6. Palatine (22-13).

Schofield is expected back for Thursday's championship.

"We've been without Gracie the past few matches so everyone is just trying to do their jobs a little better," said senior libero Sierra Kepski, an IUPUI recruit who did her job as usual with 14 digs.

"We started out a little slow in each set but we kept control of the whole match," Kepski said. "We know it comes down to execution."

Grace Butler (4 kills) and Meade executed their setting chores to lead an offense which also received 4 kills apiece from Cate Halverson and Elizabeth Tworek.

Set 1 was tied at 13-13 before Carmel (31-5) found a little breathing room at 17-13.

Wheeling never got closer than 3 points.

"The key is to take it game by game in the state tournament," Kepski said. "Obviously the goal is to make it to state but you've got to win these matches to get there. We don't want to take any team lightly."

The Wildcats stayed close early in set 2 before Carmel pulled ahead 9-4 on consecutive serving points from Meade, including an ace and a kill Tworek.

Wheeling fought back to within 14-13 on a kill by Deanna Kuzmanic.

But the Corsiars pulled away again on a tip by Halverson and kill by Meade.

The lead expanded to 19-15 with a back-to-back block and kill by Butler.

Alexander Wayland's second kill ended the match at 25-16.

"Our biggest problem was serving errors, and that will be fixed in practice (today)," said Carmel coach David Pazely. "But I thought our defense was very good. And we put up a big block, forcing tips and rolls, and we were able to get sideouts when we needed them."

Wheeling seniors Ashley Talken, Sabrina Semeria, Lani Greenberg, Alexa Laureano, Imani Evans, Jaron Urban Sarah Fruscione, Domenica Montesinos and Kuzmanic had plenty to be proud as they left the court.

"In their four years, the senior group had our best varsity record, best conference record (6-4) and finish (third place) and a libero with more than 600 digs (Laureano)," said Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski. "And we had a sophomore (Timber Terrell) with nearly 260 kills."

Kopkowski was impressed by the Corsairs.

"They're a great team," he said. "They're very consistent, smooth and confident. And that was the difference in the match. They were more consistent at a higher level than us.

"Our only scoring threat was really Lani (Greenberg) in the middle. Sabrina (Semeria) set a wonderful match. They stood out for sure."