Hinsdale South stuns York in final
Never a questioner of her talent, Hinsdale South coach Lisa Martinez beamed at how Danielle Romeo blossomed into a leader this weekend.
"She's turned the page," Martinez said. "She was like my right arm today."
So Romeo wasn't about to let a sore ankle stop her.
Hinsdale South's senior outside put down 6 of her 20 kills in the third game of Saturday's Warrior Blast championship match, leading the fifth-seeded Hornets to a 31-29, 25-27, 25-21 upset of top-seeded and No. 2-ranked York at Waubonsie Valley.
Romeo turned an ankle late in the second game with York. She had it taped prior to Game 3, putting a brace over it. It affected her lift some, but Romeo still put down 3 critical kills during a stretch where Hinsdale South went from a tenuous 18-17 lead to a 22-18 advantage.
"It got numb after three or four minutes," Pepperdine recruit Romeo said. "But unless it was broken I wasn't coming out."
Melissa Nava had 10 kills and 3 blocks and Morgan Howard 4 kills and 3 blocks for Hinsdale South (16-4), which got a breakthrough win against a top team after two losses to unbeaten Marist and one to defending 3A state champion Joliet Catholic.
The two teams traded 15 straight points at the end of a riveting Game 1 before a Howard kill and York net violation ended it.
Hinsdale South benefitted from a scoring error late in Game 1 against York. Instead of York leading 24-22 the score was set to 23-23. Hinsdale South beat No. 11 Neuqua Valley 25-18, 25-21 to advance to the championship.
"I said to them when we went into the third game, 'This is where all the hours that I make you put in and torture you shows, you're in the gym until 6:15 at night and for five hours on Saturday. This is where it shows,'" Martinez said. "You've still got gas in the tank,' and they did. At the end we were in control of the match. The last game was our best game."
Melissa Deatsch had 11 kills, Caroline Rose 10 and Sam Schrenker 3 kills and 9 blocks for York (22-3), whose two previous losses came to Lyons Township.
"We didn't play well," York coach Patty Iverson said. "We did stupid things, we didn't have a defense. We did not execute.
York beat Waubonsie Valley 25-22, 25-20 to advance to the championship. Waubonsie (16-8) came back to beat Neuqua Valley 25-23, 26-24 for third place. Martha Stewart and Lisa Stunicka each put down 9 kills for the Warriors in that match. Waubonsie earlier avenged an early-season loss to Batavia with a dominant 25-12, 25-16 win.
"I thought Martha Stewart played fantastic all weekend. She really dominated," Waubonsie coach Kristen Stuart said. "Against York we had some great moments; we just made a lot of unforced errors and York played well. Against Neuqua it's always going to be a battle so we're always happy to come away with a win, even if it was close."
No. 9 Batavia (15-3), who hadn't lost since Aug. 26, went 3-2 over the weekend with a loss to Hinsdale South in pool play Friday night. After dropping their first match Saturday to Waubonsie the Bulldogs came back to beat Downers Grove North 17-25, 25-16, 26-24 and then defeated Rosary 25-20, 25-21 for fifth place.
"We had to dig deep today and this weekend to see what our team was made of," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "People are gunning for us now."
Caitlin Piechota had 6 kills, Mary Kate Bryant 5 kills, 14 assists and 8 digs and Kristen Koncelik 5 kills against Rosary.
"I think we played with a lot of confidence," Tripp-Payne said, "and I think we showed that we everybody that we belong with a lot of teams. We had some matches where we played some amazing volleyball."