Girls volleyball: Miller, Fenton stick together to beat Leyden
Senior setter MacKenzie Miller is the glue that holds together the Fenton girls volleyball team. And when she's on, which she usually is, she makes the Bison a tough customer.
That's good news, considering the IHSA Class 4A playoffs started Monday. Coming into Fenton's first-round regional match with Leyden, Miller had 568 assists this season.
Add 18 more against the Eagles, along with 5 digs, and the result was a 25-16, 25-20 victory for the Bison (24-11), which avenged a regular-season loss. They'll face host Glenbard East in the regional semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"She's been incredible," Fenton coach Kelly Torres said. "She's probably going to go over 600 assists for a season, which is pretty incredible. She's irreplaceable with her speed, her dedication. She's a leader, she's a captain, she's one of those kids that works her butt off and leads by example."
But to ask Miller about personal accomplishments? Well, that's tough, because she'd rather talk about teammates like senior middle hitter Victoria Krzyszkowski, who ended up with 7 kills thanks in part to Miller's efforts.
"Our hitters are really strong, so it makes my job a lot easier, because they are able to finish it," said Miller, who also set up junior Julianna Krebasch and senior Agate Kukielko for success.
After a breezy 25-16 first-set win, Fenton needed Miller in a tight second set and she produced. The Bison held a slim 15-11 lead, which prompted a timeout by Leyden coach Danielle Kowalkowski.
Coming out of the play stoppage, Krzyszkowski made it 16-11 on a kill that was expertly set up by Miller.
A little while later, on a Leyden sideout, Miller did the same thing, setting up Kukielko for a kill to put the Bison up 18-12.
Looked good for Fenton, right? Wrong. Leyden stormed back thanks to solid serving from junior Summer Mohammad and senior Catherine Saponieri to pull the Eagles to within 23-20.
But it was too little, too late. A Krebasch kill made the score 24-20, and a Leyden return out of bounds sealed the victory for Fenton.
"It got a little antsy, obviously, but I'm really happy we pulled through," said Krzyszkowski, who recently committed to Dominican University in River Forest and added 3 blocks.
In the first set Fenton junior Sydney Minard's serving took a slim 9-7 advantage and made it 16-8 in almost the blink of an eye.
"I think the nerves got to them in the first set," said Kowalkowski, who saw her team's season end at 16-20. "They were extremely nervous, all of them. I think they kind of calmed down a little bit (in the second set), and once we got our hitters involved and some nice kills, we got the momentum on our side."