Two is enough for Blazers

Host Addison Trail wanted to avoid a third game at all costs in Wednesday's Class 4A Addison Trail regional girls volleyball play-in match against West Chicago.

The Wildcats looked like anything but a winless team as they gave the Blazers all they could handle before the home team buckled down in both games and won 25-20, 25-22.

In the second game the Wildcats (0-34), who were seeded 19th, trailed by as many as 9 points,but narrowed the gap to 22-20 before the 14th-seeded Blazers (14-21) closed it on a positive note with kills by Marissa Liberio and Casey D'Ambrose accounting for two of the final 3 points.

"We were mad that they got so close," said Addison Trail's Giana Casciola. "We didn't want it to go to three games, so we just relaxed and played our game."

"At one point we were beating ourselves and they seemed to want it more," said D'Ambrose, who put down a game-high 12 kills. "But we pulled it together to win. We played really well tonight. Our passing was good and we played as a team."

In Game 1 the Wildcats also cut into the lead, going from 18-11 to 19-16 before they committed several hitting errors and lost on a game-point ace by Andrea Aue.

"The West Chicago cheering section, their JV and freshman players were really enthusiastic. They made a lot of noise," said Addison Trail coach Jill Petrbok. "It was like a home game for them. But we stayed calm and picked up our energy to pull out both games. We're happy to be going to the next round."

In addition to her 12 kills, D'Ambrose had 4 assists, 3 blocks and 5 digs.

"Casey is our go-to person," Petrbok said. "She's our most experienced player and we depend on her a lot."

Aue contributed 2 aces and 8 digs and Nikki Zdrahel came up with 16 digs.

The Blazers will face fourth-seeded Geneva in the regional semifinal Saturday.

For West Chicago it was something of a moral victory, because the Wildcats showed that they were much better than their record.

"We played with a lot of heart," said West Chicago coach Kris Hasty. "We hung really tough with them. We were in the match the whole time, we didn't play scared and we weren't hesitant. Playing your best volleyball of the year is a great way to end the season. I'm proud of our girls."

The Wildcats were sparked by freshman middle hitter Emily Paschke, who was added to the varsity last week. She had 4 kills and 2 blocks.

"She's really going to be a player for us," Hasty said.

Linnea Detrick also had a strong game with a team-high 5 kills and a block.