South Elgin's plan works against Elgin

It's always nice when a plan comes together.

On Thursday night South Elgin's plan was to attack from the middle at the net. The Storm did just that with seniors Alyssa Miner and Sarah Hallas leading the way to a 25-18, 25-20 nonconference Upstate Eight Conference girls volleyball crossover win on senior night over visiting Elgin High.

Hallas had a team-high 6 kills for the Storm. Setter Renee Rush had 5 kills and 12 assists. Miner and outside hitter Katie Innis added 4 kills each.

"It was really important to establish our middles right from the start," South Elgin coach Joni Plach said. "It's something we haven't been doing enough of lately. But what it does is draws the blocks toward the middle and opens up things on the outside. I thought we did a much better job of getting our middles involved."

After cruising through Game 1 the Storm (10-9-1) jumped out to a 7-2 lead in Game 2 with the help of a couple of aces from Hallas. However, Elgin rallied to briefly grab a 15-14 lead before South Elgin went on an 11-5 run to close out the match. Miner and Hallas each had a pair of key kills down the stretch for the Storm

"It was really fun to come out and win on senior night," Hallas said. 'We were able to finish strong by playing smarter and working the ball around the blocks."

In Game 1 the Storm trailed 4-2 early on before going on a 6-0 run to grab an 8-4 lead. They never looked back. Phoebe Duncan had 3 aces during the run.

The Storm later extended the lead to 18-11. Elgin rallied to get back to within 2 at 19-17, but the Storm pulled away again with a 6-1 run to end the game. Rush and Rachel Priore had kills in the closing run.

"I thought we played real well," Plach. " I was happy for our seniors. We told them ahead of time senior night is not all about the posters and balloons. It's about celebrating their 4 years of dedication to the program and showing that by how well you play on the court. I thought they all did a great job.

"I was really happy that we didn't make a lot of unforced errors today. And it's always good to see your serve and serve receive improving this time of year."

Elgin (11-14) rallied to take the lead in Game 2 with back-to-back kills from Emily Humrich. However, unforced errors did the Maroons in. Elgin had 3 straight miscues to give the Storm the lead back. The Maroons also had 5 service errors in the second game.

"Serving was a big difference," Elgin coach Scott Stewart said. "Five service errors in the second game and we lost by five that pretty much tells the story. Other than that I am pretty happy with the way we played. In was a nice game to start getting ready for the regionals. With the big crowd and the rivalry it had that postseason type atmosphere, so it was good to get that experience."

Abby Pierre-Louis had 5 kills to lead the Maroons. Tianna Palumbo had 10 assists and an ace.