Girls volleyball: Conant connects in two sets for 16th victory

After winning six matches a year ago, Conant's girl volleyball team showed vast improvement this fall.

The Cougars won 15 times during the regular season and they added another triumph in the postseason on Monday night at the Hoffman Estates Class 4A regional.

The No. 14 seeded Cougars (16-19) won their play-in match 25-13, 25-8 over the No. 20 and host Hawks (3-32) to advance to today's 5:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 3 Glenbrook South.

No. 6 Prospect will face No. 11 Maine East in the 6:30 p.m. semifinal.

The Cougars (16-19) got away to a 4-1 lead in Set 1 and never looked back. They pulled away to an 11-5 lead on back-to-back aces from freshman Yuri Hara, who had 5 for the match.

Conant opened up with a 5-2 lead in the second set. This time it was senior Brianna Wilkens delivering back-to-back aces for points 3 and 4 before classmate Jorie Wachal's block made it 5-2.

The Cougars drew clear midway through the set when Britany Laskero stepped up to the service line. The senior, who also plays on the basketball team with Wachal, reeled off 8 straight serve points for a 17-5 cushion.

"It was awesome," she said. "I was just trying to stay confident and serve consistently. We've come together as a team and when we stay together we can pull through."

Laskero's big serve run was highlighted by a streak of 4 kills (one on a block) by junior Ania Baker.

"Brittany has been serving pretty consistently all season," said Cougars coach Drewann Pancratz. "It comes down to serve and serve receive and which team can do that best.

"Ania (Baker) played much more aggressively in the second set. Our energy was a little low this match but the girls pulled it out and we are excited for (today's) match."

It was an exciting rookie season for Hoffman Estates libero Ashley Poland.

She became the first freshman in program history to register more than 500 digs.

Poland had 14 to lead the Hawks' back row on Monday, giving her 504 for the season.

Cougars junior Kathleen Gueco had 6 digs and 2 assists while Callie Meese also added a pair of assists. Patricia Wadas, Monraia Wilson (2 blocks), Jess Jurewicz and Janiah Fowler each had a kill for Hoffman.

"We've been struggling all season to come out strong in sets," said Hoffman coach Dan Hutton. "And today epitomized that. We had 2 errors right away at the start. We just couldn't string together any offense.

"We got a lot of touches on blocks but we couldn't execute after that. Conant played a real nice match. Hats off to them."

Leading the Cougars (4-0 versus Hoffman this fall) on attack were Baker (8 kills), Hara (6) and Wachal (5). Junior setter Kristina Loznjakovic handed out 17 assists while senior Ayla Kljako had a block.

Leading the back row were senior Michalea Vasalos (11 digs) and Hara (8).