Glenbard South defeats Wheaton Academy
Hitting errors and missed serves are never a good thing, but what can really kill a volleyball team is struggling at serve receive.
Tuesday night at Glenbard South, that key facet of the game abandoned visiting Wheaton Academy, and the Warriors stumbled 25-13, 25-13 in the process. The host Raiders (9-5, 2-1 Metro Suburban West) just so happened to be playing one of their best matches of the season and that, coupled with the visitors' struggles in serve receive and passing, spelled doom for the Warriors (4-7, 1-3).
"When we get good passes from serve receives, we can get everyone involved," said Glenbard South senior outside hitter MacKenzie Watterson, noting that the winners took care of the passing on their side of the net. "We want to get a little bit better every time we play, and I think we're starting to do that."
The Raiders jumped ahead 10-4 in the opener following a kill from sophomore Mady Carli, but five Wheaton Academy errors also helped the hosts get off to the quick start. The Warriors did close the gap to 11-9 following an ace by Jocelyn Kohlmeyer, but the sharp Raiders closed out the game with a 14-4 run.
"We did a real good job of just being consistent from start to finish," Glenbard South coach Chad Grant said.
"I felt like we were in control most of the match, which is something we are looking to build with a young team now."
The Warriors also are young in terms of varsity experience, having graduated 10 players from last season. It was a kill from freshman middle Brittney Wells that gave them a 7-6 lead in Game 2, but the lead was short-lived.
A net violation evened the score at 7-7, and Watterson then served up a 9-0 run with a combination of strong serves and a balanced front-row attack. Watterson had a pair of aces during the crucial streak, and junior Bella Bauman had 3 of her 8 kills on the night while Glenbard South was taking control.
"Everything came together. We have a pretty inexperienced team this year, but we're working through it," said Watterson, who finished the night with 9 kills and 3 aces. "Hopefully, by the end of the season, by playoff time, we'll be ready to go."
Grant said his team came into play with a focus on strong serving.
"That was a big point of emphasis coming into this match," he said. "We didn't serve all that great last week. They have really good hitters over there, so we thought if we could pull them off the net that would help neutralize them a little bit."
The strategy paid big dividends, especially on a night when Wheaton Academy was not at the top of its game.
"We're young in terms of experience at the varsity level and I think it showed, and that's a good team," Warriors coach D.A. Nichols said. "You can't win when you have 20 receiving errors. But we're fine. We'll come back. We know we have played well; we know we can."
Wells and Anna Aloisio each had 4 kills to pace Wheaton Academy. For Glenbard South, setter Claire Werner got a lot of teammates involved while recording 24 assists.
"Claire mixed it up pretty well tonight," Grant said of his junior floor leader. "When we serve tough and they have a lot of free balls we feel we have a lot of options to be able to find some holes. We mixed it up well."