Palatine second in Prospect invite
The Palatine girls volleyball team entered Saturday's Prospect Invite with 1 win.
By the end of the six-team round-robin event, the Pirates had more than tripled that number of victories en route to taking home runner-up honors.
First-year Pirates coach Dan Gavin watched his club go 3-2 with wins over Maine East (0-5), Prospect (2-3) and Wheeling (3-2), while suffering losses to tourney champion Libertyville (5-0) and Lake Park (2-3).
"The girls are starting to play with a little more confidence," Gavin said. "They're learning more about the ebb and flow of the game -- how to get momentum and how to get it back.
"They've been working hard, so it's nice to see them rewarded with a few wins."
Senior outside hitter Kate Kleiva led the attack for the Pirates (4-14) with 29 kills, while senior Kaitlyn Hofeldt added 23 and junior Amalia DeSardi 22.
They were getting their cues from senior setter Caitlyn Carpenter, who handed out 75 assists from 275 sets.
DeSardi and sophomore Hannah Guth each chipped in 4 blocks, while Hofeldt had 3. Senior Nikki Linares collected 49 digs.
"This is a great feeling," said Carpenter, who is a standout catcher for the Pirates softball team. "We just wanted to get some wins, play strong together. We had very good communication."
Kleiva said Carpenter did an "awesome" job running the show Saturday.
"And I think our front row did a better job executing," Kleiva added. "We have been working real hard in practice. Hopefully this will get us moving forward."
Wheeling (11-17) took third place with a 3-2 record.
The Wildcats were led on attack by Lindsey Mills (27 kills), Lily Villalobos (24), Bianca Szafarowicz (22), Annemarie Spiezia (13) and Carly Speidel (10).
Setter Janelle Schroeder handed out 51 assists before having to leave Wheeling's final match of the day, against Libertyville, with a shoulder injury early in Game 2.
Wheeling coach Rita Runyard did not have a completely percent healthy team.
"My two middles (Villalobos and Mills) both are playing with knee pain," she said. "Carly (Speidel) has tons of pain in her back. Janelle (Schroeder) hit the ground hard and injured her shoulder. And Bianca (Szarfarowicz) had been ill during the week."
Prospect (6-12), which placed fourth with a 2-3 record, was the only team to take tourney champ Libertyville (5-0) to three games.
Libertyville topped the Knights 16-25, 25-20, 15-8.
Sophomore Rachel Hunt had 7 kills against Libertyville, followed by Megan Murray (6), Hillary Trebels (6) and Tracy Hefferan (5).
"I was happy with all of our first and second games against everyone we played," said Knights coach Mike Riedy. "But our third games were atrocious."
Riedy liked the progress he saw in the back row from Mary Kate Ward and Lindsay Valentino.
"I thought their defense was phenomenal," Riedy said. "Their passing improved 100 percent. And in the front row, I was really impressed by Rachel Hunt and Jackie Canonaco."
In addition to her 102 assists, Canonaco also had 9 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces.
Canonaco had 5 kills against Lake Park.
"Jackie was much more aggressive in the front row," Riedy said. "She was willing to dump more and she was going up for the block."
Hunt drilled 7 aces against Lake Park and put down 10 kills against Wheeling, which will be Prospect's opponent Monday night for an MSL East Division match.
"Earlier in the week, Rachel was a having a tough time and I kept her in the matches," Riedy said. "I told her, 'you're a sophomore, you're the future of Porspect.' She was like 'OK, no problem.' So it was nice to see her get things worked out in the tourney. She played out of her mind."
Harlem Invite: Senior Jackie Carbery (39 kills, 5 aces) and junior Katie Stensland (24 kills, 10 aces) were named to the all-tourney team as the Rolling Meadows (9-9) took third place with a 3-2 record.
Jenna Milas added 34 kills and Dana Demmert 33.
Caitlyn Adair and Shannon McGuire each had 7 kills.
Kim Liwag (61 assists) and Marisa Barry (56) handled the setting duties.