Another leader steps up: Zasada
NORMAL - Turk and Holthus. Holthus and Turk.
Throughout the girls volleyball postseason, the attention Burlington Central's girls volleyball team has gotten has centered around senior setter Molly Turk and 6-foot junior hitting sensation Stephanie Holthus.
That attention has been well deserved. They are both Division I recruits and it's no secret that if you can't stop that lethal combination, the Rockets are going to beat you.
But on Friday, playing in the state semifinals for the first time in program history, the Rockets turned to another senior to help lead the way.
Not only did Meghan Zasada fill that role, she flourished in it. It was Zasada's precise serving that opened up a close Game 1 and sent the Rockets on their way to a 25-19, 25-12 win over Chicago Payton and into the state championship match for the first time. BC will take on state and national power Joliet Catholic at 5:30 p.m. today for the state title.
"It's so amazing. I just wanted to give myself and everyone confidence," said Zasada. "I just do my job."
Part of her job is to be a senior leader, and the Rockets and coach Marv Leavitt couldn't ask for a more steadying influence.
"We're a really relaxed team," said Zasada, who plays for national power Club Fusion. "Nobody gets worked up over a mistake."
Turk is one who more than admires what her teammate and classmate brings to this bunch of Rockets, who some would say have overachieved this season.
"For someone to keep performing the way she does without getting the credit she deserves impresses me beyond belief," Turk said. "It's not easy sometimes when the glory goes to just a couple of people. I applaud her. She gives us the same effort all the time and she's selfless about it. I'm proud to be her teammate. That's what a winning team is all about - that selflessness."
Zasada, who came into the state finals second on the team in digs (213) and second in service aces (60), had a kill to bring the Rockets to within 3-2 early in Game 1 and then stepped to the service line and frustrated Payton with a variety of offerings that ended with the Rockets holding an 8-3 lead they never looked back from. Her ace ended Game 1 and helped give the Rockets the confidence they needed to advance to the state championship match, a place that a couple short weeks ago they never dreamed of being.
"We really just wanted to win the regional and beat Sycamore," Zasada said of the team that eliminated BC last year. "This has all been a dream come true."
Leavitt will be the first to agree the Rockets needed a steadying influence when they got behind early Friday and Zasada was there to provide it.
"She just came through big-time," Leavitt said. "It wasn't just with her serving either. We knew they'd go after everyone but Stephanie and Meghan just stepped it up big time. We have a lot of role players and people have accepted their roles. That's a special part of this team.
"Meghan exemplifies that. She's not getting a lot of the attention but she knows she's part of a winning team and she deserves all the credit in the world."
Zasada reacts to it all humbly, and is just enjoying the ride along with the rest of Rocket Nation.
"I just want to do my part," she said.
She's doing that and then some.
jradtke@dailyherald.com