Leyden grades out well at Maine West

Due to ongoing construction, the Maine West girls volleyball team is not playing in its main spectator gym.

The Warriors are using the smaller 'C' Wing gymnasium.

Visting Leyden deserved a much better grade than a 'C' for its performance on Thursday night.

Eagles coach Daniele Kowalkowski called it an 'A.'

The Eagles endured one of the longest sets fans will see to post a 32-30, 15-25, 25-22 victory in a gym that could not have been much steamier due to the humid conditions outdoors.

"I think this shows our girls are in pretty good shape," Kowalkowski said after the hour-and-twenty-minute nonconference match in Des Plaines. "A lot of them take an athletic physical education class at Leyden which is great to get in the shape and gain endurance. This match was a long time to play volleyball in an environment like this."

The Eagles (2-1) persevered behind the some solid hitting from junior setter Autumn McGee (9 kills, 5 aces), senior Emily Steininger (8 kills) and junior Patricia Strzeminska (6 kills).

McGee also sets the offense for the Eagles.

"Their setter (McGee) hurt us lot with her two attack," said first-year Maine West coach Mike Cott. "She was good with that."

The Eagles led 23-19 in Set 1 when Warriors senior setter Hannah Kuhn served four straight points, including an ace. There were also 2 kills during the run by sophomore Jessica Riedl (8 kills, 2 blocks) as the host were able to tie the set at 24.

The game proceeded to be tied on every number up to 30 before Leyden prevailed on 2 errors for the final 2 points.

"That's the longest set I've played in and I've been playing a long time," Steininger said. "I was really impressed with everyone. We really came together and did a great job as a team."

"What a fun match to watch," Kowalkowski said. "I think this gives us some confidence which we were lacking from our first match with Maine East. Just to be able to close a match that was this tight, you really have to dig in and that's what we did."

The Eagles dug deep when they trailed 13-10 in the third set.

McGee came up huge, serving for nine straight points, including 4 aces as the visitors built a 20-13 cushion.

But West refused to surrender, and drew to within 23-21 when senior Allison Grzebien slammed her match-high 15th kill to the floor.

"Allison stepped it up," Cott said. "She did a nice job. She She did some things well. There are some things she needs to work on which we will talk to her about. It was definitely a step in the right direction.

The Warriors (1-2) closed to within 23-22 on a kill by junior Lee Harty, who had 5 for the match.

But the Eagles were able to close put the win on a service error and a block by senior middle hitter Karina Sanchez for match point.

"Now our energy is up going into our first conference match next week," Kowalkowski said. "This is a great win for us."

The Warriors had a great win in Set 2 when they drew away late.

They led 14-11 and 15-12 but surged to a 19-13 advantage after a solid serve from senior Jordan Hart. Her 4-point run included kills by her sister Carly (16 digs) and Grzebien (10 digs). Jordan Hart ended up with 12 digs, 3 kills and 1 block.

"I like the way we responded in Set 2," Cott said." "And we were in good position in Set 3. We kept fighting. In terms of effort and attitude, I will sleep well tonight. We battled, We came up a little short but if we can have that kind of attitude and effort throughout all our matches and practices then we have a chance to get a lot better and improve."

Cott stressed the overall team effort.

"It was fun, good volleyball," he added. "The effort and intensity is close to where it needs to be. We just have to get a little better with the skill part."