West Chicago claims first DVC title in 31 years
A lot has happened in the last 31 years, enough that recapping the highlights would take up two pages.
So just add one more to the list a DuPage Valley Conference title for the West Chicago girls volleyball team after defeating Wheaton Warrenville South in three games Thursday night. It was 1979 when the Wildcats were last DVC champions, but after beating the Tigers 25-21, 23-25, 25-22 in a thrilling, nailbiter of a match, the tears of joy were flowing for the undefeated squad.
“It's the greatest accomplishment..., said senior Emily Paschke, her voice trailing off, unable to contain her emotions and thoughts. “It was such a team effort.
West Chicago is 23-0 and 12-0 in the DVC but dropped its second game all year in the second against the Tigers (13-15, 5-7), who had nothing to lose.
“We thought we had a pretty good idea of how to go after this, especially after the last time we played them, WW South coach Bill Schreier said. “The last two games were close. At that time we might have been the first group to get in the 20s with them. They're just a fabulous team.
West Chicago actually looked to be going through the motions for much of the match, handing easy points to the Tigers on numerous occasions.
“We didn't play our best, but we hung in there, Wildcats coach Kris Hasty said. “We could have panicked and let them have it, but we didn't, so it's a good test for us if this is what it's going to be in the postseason.
The glue that held West Chicago together was junior Julia Conard. The 5-foot-9 outside hitter was a giant, getting kills when it was much needed or dropping aces and hard-to-receive jump serves like laser-guided missiles.
“Getting on that role at the end, both (Conard) and (Kathy) Fletcher, those were the ones where we needed to get one-and-done on the end line, Schreier said. “Gotta get them off the service line as fast as possible. We just gave up a couple too many points there.
Conard accounted for 13 kills and 3 aces, and her serves led to easy spikes for Paschke and Fletcher when Wheaton Warrenville South could not handle serve-receive, separating the Wildcats from the Tigers at the end of game three.
“That was a really nailbiting game, Conard said. “At the beginning we weren't awake and one step behind everything. Once we heard the crowd and all the cheering and laughter and energy, we really fed off that and got our game together.
Said Hasty: “She is our clutch player, our go-to gal. She keeps it together. She did a great job tonight, that's for sure.
Fletcher had 12 kills for the Wildcats and Paschke had 6, while junior setter Payton Bayless had 20 assists. Jen Konchar had 9 digs and 2 aces.
The Tigers were led by Stephanie Budlong's 10 digs and 8 kills and Kate Phalen's 10 kills. Jessica Bossman had 28 assists and Jacky Rodriguez 21 digs and 3 aces. By wrapping up the DVC outright, West Chicago can look ahead to the postseason but may not want to.
“(Championships) don't come every day to West Chicago, Hasty said. “We have to enjoy it while we have it.