Plainfield C. upsets Metea Valley

Amid friendly consoling, Jessica Boddy shed the tears Tuesday of a high school career ended before she was ready.

At least two nights too soon for Metea Valley.

Perhaps looking ahead to a rematch with rival Neuqua Valley Thursday, the sixth-seeded Mustangs were upset by No. 9 Plainfield Central 25-22, 25-23 at the Class 4A Plainfield Central regional.

Metea and Plainfield Central were both three-set losers to Neuqua during the regular season, but it’s the host school moving on to Thursday’s 6 p.m. final.

“We wanted to redeem ourselves against Neuqua,” said Boddy, who will play at Pittsburgh next year. “I guess we came out too tight tonight.”

Momentum can be quite fickle in volleyball, and it sure didn’t smile last on Metea.

Down a set, the Mustangs rallied from a 18-14 deficit to creep ahead 22-21 on a Boddy kill, her seventh of the match. But Boddy was whistled for a lift on the next point, then sent a hit wide to push Plainfield Central ahead 23-22.

Lexie Lobdell momentarily gave Metea life with a kill, but Erin Hyland answered with a kill for Plainfield Central to get to match point. There, Metea was called for a net violation, its fourth of the second set.

“We have a lot of young players that haven’t been in big matches,” Boddy said, “and a lot of us are inexperienced. It really comes down to being mentally strong.”

Metea made 16 errors for the match, 10 in the second set.

“We made far too many errors to expect to win tonight,” Metea coach James Milkert said.

Metea appeared in good shape early on. A 5-0 run keyed by two Jaeme Cruz kills pushed the Mustangs ahead 14-9 in the first set, and it was 16-11 after a Katherine Gilmore ace. Another net violation touched off a 7-0 Plainfield Central run, and Metea was in a dogfight from there.

“We’ve done that all season, I’m sad to say,” Milkert said. “We’ve done a great job getting the lead and a difficult time sustaining it. It’s been our Achilles’ heel.”

Hyland, who had 9 kills and 2 blocks, feathered in a tip kill to give Plainfield Central the lead for good 20-19, then ripped a kill down the line. Hyland was one of seven Wildcats seniors not ready to see their season end on their home court.

“They’re feeding off the crowd,” Wildcats coach Jessica Clark said, “and they’re feeding off that homecourt advantage. These seven seniors, they want more than anything to win a regional. They know this has to be the year.”

Brianne Honda, with Boddy one of four seniors on the court for Metea (24-10) Tuesday, had 5 kills and was all over the back row with 15 digs. Freshman Lobdell had 4 kills and Kaylyn Torain had a kill and 4 blocks.

The experience of a career-ending playoff loss was a new one for second-year varsity program Metea.

“Our seniors have not seen another senior devastated by losing a regional game,” Milkert said. “Hopefully, our sophomores and juniors saw that and are terrified about having that experience and get back in the gym ready to work.”