Waubonsie Valley ousts Neuqua Valley
Waubonsie Valley volleyball coach Kristen Stuart has talked about building her program to stand among the area's best.
Saturday was a step forward.
The Warriors beat Neuqua Valley 25-22, 25-21 in the Class 4A Plainfield South regional final to win Waubonsie's first regional championship since 2006.
Fourth-year coach Stuart, who previously took Waubonsie to regional finals in 2007 and 2009, also celebrated her 100th win. Doing so with the first senior class she started with, including Jill Galovic, Meagan Mooney, Ally Simmons and Melissa Beckman, made it all the more special.
“They're such a great group,” Stuart said, “and we knew when they were freshmen that they were going to be a good group. Then we had Martha Stewart transfer in as a sophomore, which was a blessing and nice little surprise. Martha, Jill and Ally have been on varsity since they were sophomores. We've kind of been working to this point for three years. It's satisfying after all the hard work they've put in.”
Stewart, who transferred in from St. Francis after her freshman year, led the way with 13 kills. She put down back-to-back kills to end Game 1, then put away her 13th for match point.
“It feels good to finally get that regional title,” Stewart said. “We were expecting Neuqua to come out with a lot of energy, but we were confident since we beat them twice during the season. I felt like we had the upper hand, the confidence that we could beat them and that we had beaten them.”
Neuqua (21-11) didn't go down easy in the third go-around.
The Wildcats scored the match's first 3 points on a kill and block by Callie Huebener, and battled to nine ties in Game 1. Neuqua's last lead was 20-19.
Neuqua played without coach Kelly Simon, out of town due to a death in the family. The Wildcats also played Game 2 minus starting setter Christine Cichon, who injured her fingers on Stewart's spike to end Game 1.
“We came out today with a lot of energy and did a much better job executing our plays,” Neuqua assistant coach Mandy Dunham said. “Waubonsie's a great team. Losing Christine after that first game kind of threw off the dynamic of the team a tiny bit. But I thought we fought really hard.”
Galovic had 11 digs and Mooney 23 assists for Waubonsie (27-10). Lisa Studnicka put down 9 kills, including 3 straight in Game 2 to turn a 16-14 Warriors lead to a 19-14 advantage.
Next up for Waubonsie is a date with No. 1 seed Benet at Tuesday's sectional semifinal at Romeoville. Benet beat Waubonsie three times during the season.
“We know that we have a chance,” Stuart said, “and we know it's going to be a tough match. We're in a good place, peaking at the right time. We'll fight as hard as we can and see what happens.”