Kuhn sets up Maine West for regional semi against Hersey
Maine West setter Hannah Kuhn gave her team a big assist when she served the Warriors to an 8-0 lead to start Monday's Class AA play-in match for the Hersey girls volleyball regional.
Then the 5-foot-5 senior concentrated on providing assists with her sets.
Kuhn finished with 15 and classmate Allison Grzebien served as the main beneficiary.
The 6-foot-2 outside hitter put down 12 kills as the No. 15-seeded Warriors swept past No. 19 Hoffman Estates 25-10, 25-16 in the Ken Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.
The Warriors (13-23) move on to play host Hersey, the No. 3 seed in the Glenbrook North sectional, in Tuesday's 6 p.m. semifinal. No. 11 Schaumburg and No. 6 Maine South face off in the second semifinal at 7 p.m.
"We can't be sloppy," said Kuhn of her team's match today with the Mid-Suburban League champion Huskies (23-12). "We've got to keep everything tight. We've got to play together. Our main thing this match (against Hoffman) was not being cocky. We just had to play with confidence."
Grzebien, senior Jordan Hart (6 kills) and sophomore Jessica Riedl were all confident at the net for the Warriors who received back-to-back blocks by Riedl for a 23-8 lead in Set 1.
Moments later, a tip by Riedl ended the set.
West jumped ahead 10-3 in Set 2 on an ace from Grzebien, who also had three consecutive kills to put the Warriors ahead 19-9.
"They (Grzebien and Riedl) have been big for us all season," said Maine West coach Mike Cott who was without the services of sophomore Sophia Saldana, junior Bridget Donovan and junior Grace Feldkamp due to injuries. "They are two of our biggest offensive options."
Hoffman Estates coach Dan Hutton went to a new option at setter due to senior Lauren Schrader coming off an illness.
He used senior Kayla Major (16-of-16, 6 assists) and sophomore Kathleen Guecco, who made her varsity debut.
Guecco collected 5 assists, a team-high 8 digs and was 7-of-9 with 4 kills, including a nifty dump which got Hoffman to within 20-13 in Set 2.
The Hawks (1-35) closed to within 20-15 on a kill by junior Natalie Pethes before West earned five of the final 6 points capped off by Grzebien's match-ending ace.
"At this point you just want to survive and advance," Cott said. "It wasn't pretty at times. We lost a lot of focus in that second set."
Hoffman senior libero Frankie Van contributed 6 digs, 2 aces (5-of-6) and 2 kills (4-of-4). Junior middle blocker Hanna Saurbier was 6-of-6 with 3 kills.
"These were a great bunch of girls," Hutton said. "It's sad to see nine of them will be graduating. They made it enjoyable to go to practice every day."