Girls volleyball: Pu, Miller step up for Neuqua Valley
Making the best of a bad situation.
When Neuqua Valley senior leader Maria Mayhew suffered a broken hand in practice in September, it was quite a blow to the school's volleyball program. But that didn't mean the Wildcats' season was lost and it didn't mean the school couldn't carry on its winning ways.
What it did mean was that fellow senior setter Rachel Pu would shoulder a bigger load and junior setter Karly Miller would need to slide into Mayhew's role to allow the team to continue running a 6-2 attack.
In Thursday's DuPage Valley Conference finale, both Pu and Miller played well again as the Wildcats closed their home campaign with a crisp, 25-13, 25-15 defeat of Glenbard North.
With the win the Wildcats improved to 21-13 on the year and 5-3 in the DVC, which should be good for a share of second place.
"Right away everyone was like, 'Oh my gosh, it's Maria Mayhew.' But everyone stepped up, especially Karly," said Pu, who had 13 assists, 3 digs and a pair of aces against the Panthers. "She really stepped up and right away everyone was like, OK, we got this. She'll take the spot and we'll make the best of it. I think everyone really did."
Miller joined the starting lineup immediately after the injury to Mayhew and right off the bat provided strong defense, serving and setting. She added 6 assists and an ace in the win over Glenbard North and will play a key role in next week's regionals where the Wildcats may face Benet in the finals at Oswego.
"When that happened," Neuqua coach Kelly Simon said of the injury, "I wasn't really sure how quickly we were going to be able to adapt because Maria's a three-year starting varsity player and a tremendous leader for us. Karly didn't even get practice time (before her first start) and she did a great job. She does everything well and she's a kid that works so hard."
The Wildcats were sharp in the opener, taking an 8-2 lead following a kill by Shannon Skryd and closing out the set after Miller set up Pu for the clinching kill.
In the second set the Panthers played to a 12-12 draw midway through behind the hitting of Maddie Meyers and the blocking of Anastasia Brown before the home team closed out the match with a 13-3 run.
"They didn't make a lot of errors and we have to always play like someone's chasing us. And we were playing a little flat tonight," Panthers coach Anne Bremner said after her team dropped to 8-22. "We needed a little more spunk. We do the right things, I just think we lack a little bit of experience in our positions. Neuqua on the other hand, has a lot of experience. They find a way to put the ball away, to score or to swing a block. Just little things here and there that obviously add up in a volleyball game."
Pu was happy to see the team finish strong and allow Simon to get several players on the floor in the home finale.
"We were a little slow to start with, but I think everyone was super emotional and super excited because this was our last home game," she said. "So we all pulled it together and everyone just like went for it. In the second set we were able to put in more players and it was really cool to see all the seniors and everyone really stepped up."