Girls volleyball: Waubonsie Valley climbs out of rut against Hinsdale Central

Another dreaded rut crept into Waubonsie Valley's girls volleyball match Wednesday night, but this year's Warriors seem to know just how to handle such hiccups.

After the Warriors used a 10-3 close in Game 1 to rally and win the opener with Hinsdale Central 25-22, the host Warriors stormed out to a 13-3 lead in the second set in Aurora. But the Red Devils took advantage of a Warriors rut to close to within 18-17 in the nightcap.

That's when sophomore Melissa Walden stepped up and helped Waubonsie Valley finish off the nonconference sweep by taking Game 2 25-18. The Warriors setter sandwiched a pair of big kills around a block from teammates Delanie Menconi and Gisele Bode for a 21-17 lead and added another late kill as her team improved to 6-2 on the year.

"It's kind of a thing we've been working on in practice," Walden said. "It's something we were struggling with kind of during the week, getting into ruts and getting comfortable (with a big lead)."

This Warriors team has plenty of upperclassmen, and Walden started as a freshman, so she too brings experience to the campaign. Senior libero Michelle Lee paced the defense with 8 digs, and Bode and fellow senior Greer Griffin recorded timely kills and blocks to prevent any long ruts.

"We've been working really hard on changing things up and being able to pull ourselves out of it," Walden said. "I think that's really what we did going into that second set, we started off the first set slow and we wanted to take that ending in that set and bring it into the next set."

In that first set the Red Devils led 18-15 following a kill from Olivia Kreischer and an ace by Maggie Wilson. But Walden, who had a match-high 7 kills, delivered a big one to start a Warriors rally that also featured kills from Bode and Cassie Chinn and blocks from Libby Valek and Griffin.

"Fortunately, we have the tools and the players who can get us out of the rut," Warriors coach Kari Galen said. "But right now our focus is to really work on that consistency."

For the most part so far in 2017, the Warriors have been playing well, and Galen knows this year's team is hungry for a DuPage Valley Conference title after settling for second last fall.

"I definitely think right now the girls are really looking for that conference championship this year," she said. "We were on the road to that last year and we fell slightly short."

Hinsdale Central dropped to 3-6 on the year with the tough setback.

"Too little, too late," Red Devils coach Mike Konrad said of his team's rally from a big hole in the second set. "I was proud of the way we came back from a 13-3 deficit in Game 2 after losing Game 1.

"We just weren't firing on all cylinders tonight, and a team like Waubonsie at home with their loud fans, it just seemed like they kind of wanted it more. They stayed focused throughout the whole match, as where we went through too many ups and downs."