South Elgin storms to first regional title

It took just 40 minutes for South Elgin's girls volleyball team to win the first regional championship in the short history of the program Saturday.

The Storm dispensed of Elgin 25-11, 25-21 to win the Class 4A Larkin regional and advance to Tuesday's Huntley sectional. South Elgin (15-18) will meet Cary-Grove (33-4) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"I told the girls it would have been nice to win this in South Elgin's gym," said South Elgin coach Joni Melahn, a Larkin graduate who won two regional titles as a player for the Royals.

"But (Larkin) would be the second place I would have wanted to win the title. I am really happy for the girls. I am proud of them. They have really improved throughout the season."

The Storm fell behind early in the second game but a few missed serves by Elgin (11-22) turned the momentum around. The Storm capitalized on the Maroon miscues and turned a 5-point deficit quickly into a lead. After a mishit on the Maroon front row, South Elgin had the victory and the regional title.

"We showed up ready," said Elgin coach Keith Foster. "But once the match started we didn't play as a team."

The Storm's Katelyn Stonecipher (3 assists, 3 digs) rattled off 7 points in a row during the first game to give South Elgin an 11-2 lead while teammate Alyssa Krause added 3 of her 8 kills during that span.

"It's really awesome," said Krause of winning the first volleyball regional title at South Elgin. "We played really good. We struggled in the second game at the start but coach told us to play like we did in the first."

Junior Setter Courtney Sanocki had 16 assists for South Elgin while teammate Laura Balance added an assist, 3 kills and 5 digs.

Elgin was led by Danielle Lawry with 7 kills, while teammates Jennifer Fulton and Alyssa Higdon added 4 kills each. Abbey Houde had 13 assists for the Maroons.