Girls volleyball: Record showing from Meredith, regional champ Prospect

It had been double-digit years since Prospect's girls volleyball team won a regional championship.

And no Knight had ever recorded double-digit kill blocks in program history.

But Prospect was all about history on Thursday, winning its first regional championship since 2003 and the seventh in school history behind a school-record 10 kill blocks by junior Meghan Meredith.

The No. 6 seeded Knights defeated No. 3 Glenbrook South 25-18, 20-25, 25-15 for the championship of the Class 4A Hoffman Estates regional.

Prospect (26-11) will meet No. 10 seed and Mid-Suburban League champion Fremd (29-8) in Tuesday's semifinal of the Glenbrook South sectional at 6:30 p.m.

"Meghan did a great job blocking," said Knights senior Maggie Porwit, who had 7 blocks and 3 kills. "And she has a toe injury. It was insane."

Junior Val Thomas connected for 2 aces early in the match that helped the Knights grab a 4-0 lead.

Glenbrook South (26-10) drew back to within 5-4 when Meredith took over with 4 straight block kills for a 9-4 cushion.

Prospect never trailed the rest of the set, widening its lead to 19-6 on an ace by Porwit before eventually gaining the 25-18 win on a kill by senior Mary Mazurek (7 kills).

Glenbrook South answered in Set 2, building a 20-15 lead and putting it away on a tip by senior Sarah Wojick, who had a match-high 11 kills.

But the Knights regrouped in the third set and broke it open following a 9-9 tie.

Porwit served for 6 straight points, including an ace that made it 14-9 forcing Titans coach Kelly Dorn to use her second timeout.

"I thought Prospect played just about a flawless match," Dorn said. "They serve received, they played defense and didn't serve the ball out. They didn't make many errors. They played really well."

Porwit said it was just a matter of following coach Laura Gerber's instruction.

"Mrs. Gerber scouted them so well," Porwit said. "She gave us a packet and we knew where to be on every serve receive. She told us where they were going to set every time, so Meredith was always able to get in the right spot."

"It was amazing, we just had huge energy," Meredith said. "We've have had a tendency to start our slow but we came out strong and just kept going in an upward spiral.

"Val (Thomas, who had 23 digs) and Maggie (Porwit who had 20 digs) were really picking up hard attacks. They were all over the place. It was amazing."

Meredith was quite amazing in the middle with her blocks which broke the former record of nine set by Sarah Hunt, a 2010 graduate.

Meredith even had a block which she sent over the net on the match's finally rally. It was never returned and gave Prospect its match point.

Meredith injured her middle toe and foot at Monday's practice.

"Someone landed on it,' she said. "It may be broken or just sprained. I'm just going all on adrenaline."

Meredith also put down 5 kills while Mandy Withey added 3 and Paige Gerber 2.

Gerber set the Knights' attack with 23 assists and she also made 7 digs in the back row where Kaela Myers and Kendra Gancarz had 10 apiece.

As usual, Myers had her share of clutch kills, and finished 6 for the match. Withey also contributed 4 kill blocks, including one during Porwit's match-changing service run in the third set.

"The girls were incredibly focused," said Laura Gerber. "We had a script and the girls stuck to it. We had them scouted. The girls prepared well and did everything we asked of them. Meredith did a great job and we swung hard and deep. It was a great match."