Food for thought: Pregame meal, speech power Prospect

The pasta was probably pretty good at the Prospect girls volleyball team's pregame dinner Wednesday in the school conference room.

But the speech afterward from Knights coach Mike Riedy proved even better.

"We had a big talk," Riedy said. "We talked about what it means to be an athlete and what it means to compete. All those intangibles had been missing with us. A lot of positives came out of the talk, and you could see them in this match."

Prospect fans saw their team post a 25-9, 25-16 Mid-Suburban East triumph over visiting Rolling Meadows in the Jean Walker Field House.

Knights senior Sarah Hunt collected 7 kills, 8 digs and 5 aces to help throw the knockout punch as Prospect improved to 10-9 and 4-3.

In Game 1, the 6-foot-3 senior middle served the hosts from 16-8 to 23-8 picking up 3 aces along the way. The streak also included 2 kills from senior Ashley Wabik and one by junior Sage Rebecca.

"I thought we definitely stepped up as a team," Hunt said. "Every person contributed in a different way. We improved in all aspects of the game."

The setting was handled by Danielle Siwik (16 assists) and Shea Gallus (4).

The junior's top targets were Hunt, Wabik (6 kills) and Rebecca (5 kills).

Wabik, Hunt and Benson each had a block for points.

"We talked a lot about strategy (after dinner)," Benson said. "We've just got to play up to our potential. If we keep doing that, we'll be good."

Senior Mariel Sobey went 10-of-10 on serve receive, serving 11-of-11 and collecting 4 digs.

Rolling Meadows (5-13, 1-6) was led on attack by Rachel Mickey (10-of-12, 3 kills) and Veronica Dabrowski (9-of-11, 2 kills), who got their cues from freshman setter Jenny Vliet (38-of-39, 2 assists).

Mickey also had 3 blocks, while Morgan Keller had a pair.

"Rachel and Morgan did a fantastic job blocking," said Meadows coach Janet Opels, whose team placed third last Saturday at the Eisenhower tourney with a 3-2 record. "And I thought Amber Beasley played well. Julie Anti did a real nice job coming in and serving (2-of-2, 1 ace)."

Emily Haeger was credited with 3 digs while Vliet had 2.

"Our serve receive has really improved," Opels said. "Oh my goodness, we couldn't pass to save our lives early in the season. We're kind of starting to gel, one step at a time. We obviously still have a lot of work to do, but I am pleased with where we are going because we have so much to learn."