Dundee-Crown, Larkin meet for regional title
Dundee-Crown girls volleyball coach Tracy Williams said the last time the Chargers won a regional championship was 1996.
That year, D-C beat Larkin for the second consecutive season in the regional final.
The schools will meet again Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Class 4A South Elgin regional final thanks to victories Thursday.
No. 4 seed Dundee-Crown beat top seed South Elgin, 26-24, 25-14, after No. 2 Larkin rallied to defeat No. 3 Streamwood, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21.
“It's kind of ironic. Now we're going to play Larkin for the championship and it's been so many years,” Williams said.
The Chargers (7-30) had to beat Elgin, 25-17, 25-22, earlier Thursday to advance to the semifinals. The Storm (10-14-1) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening game, but D-C scored the next 5 points and never trailed again.
South Elgin trailed 23-19 after a Lauren Mosher kill for D-C before tying the game at 24-24 on a Laura Ballance kill. The Chargers' Alexa Shemanske and Mosher had back-to-back kills to end the opening game.
“We ended our (regular) season with Cary-Grove and we ended on a better score note than we thought we would,” Mosher said. “That gave us more confidence that we can compete with, maybe not as good as a team as them, but a higher caliber. So we came in here and we were ready to face some teams that we knew weren't as good and that we could compete.”
D-C never trailed in the second game and Mosher again had a kill to end the match.
Alexis Holm had 7 kills for the Chargers. Mosher added six and Shemanske had five. Carlin Faulkner finished with 19 digs and Cassie Sommers added 11 digs as D-C played their typical scrappy defense.
“We weren't putting the ball down,” South Elgin coach Joni Plach said. “They got everything up. I give them a lot of credit for that.”
Ashley Oandasan led the Storm with 5 kills.
Larkin (6-22) advanced to the title match by rallying from a game down and 7-2 in the third game. Streamwood (4-17) won the opening game thanks to good defense and surprise tips from setter Alyson Montemayor, who had 5 tip kills in the game.
Then the Larkin freshmen took over. Olivia Kofie had 7 kills in the second game as the Royals never trailed after being behind 15-14. A Streamwood serving error gave the Royals game point and Kofie put away a kill to force a third game.
The Sabres led 7-2 before the Royals rallied to tie the game at 8-8. Brianna Stewart, Larkin's other freshman, had her second kill of the final game to give the Royals a 10-9 lead. The game had seven ties until Larkin broke a 17-17 tie and led the rest of the way. Stewart finished off the match with her sixth kill of the game and 11th of the match.
“It feels wonderful,” Stewart said. “For the seniors, in their last year, it's something for them to remember.”
Kofie led the Royals with 12 kills.