Girls volleyball: It's showtime as Wheeling sinks Rolling Meadows

In terms of pure entertainment, the fifth edition of 'Hawaiian Night' between Rolling Meadows and Wheeling was on an island of its own.

The two Mid-Suburban East teams played action-packed girls volleyball for an hour and a half before the visiting Wildcats gave coach Jason Kopkowski a happy return to his alma mater by surviving 22-25, 25-22, 25-21 to win the Golden Coconut.

With fans sitting on lawn chairs and sporting attire of Hawaiian shirts and leis, senior Timber Terrell put down a match-high 15 kills for the Wildcats who improved to 19-8 and 7-2 in the MSL East, a half match behind first-place Hersey (18-4, 7-1).

"Rolling Meadows is a great, great team," said Kopkowski, who played high school volleyball at Meadows. "This was totally what this match should have been. They are a team that fights really, really hard and I told my girls that they would have to be ready to compete."

The Wildcats were ready, even in the first set after falling behind 10-2. They battled all the way back to within 20-19 before Meadows (17-11, 5-4) was able to pull it out.

Mallory King's set to Maddie Sellergren (13 kills) resulted in a kill that gave the Mustangs a 24-21 lead. The Wildcats held off one match point when Kamila Staniszewski out down one of her 6 kills.

Meadows put away the set on by Eleanor Errico's kill that made it 25-22.

But Wheeling kept its momentum from the big first-set rally and was able to finish strong in the next two sets to end a two-match losing streak in the East.

"It was great that we finally climbed back together," said Wildcats senior defensive specialist Shannon Kennedy. "This shows we are still ready to play. Once we get rolling, we keep going and don't stop."

The Wildcats were rolling in late in Set 2. It was tied at 21 when they scored 4 of the next 5 points.

A tip kill and a block by Melissa Claver (4 blocks, 3 kills) gave Meadows a 23-21 lead.

Sellergen ended the match's longest rally when she put down a kill to make it 23-22.

But two hitting errors gave Wheeling the next 2 points and the set.

Set 3 was another thriller start to finish before the Wildcats again scored 4 of the final 5 points.

Sellergren's team-high 13th kill got Meadows to within 22-21 when Wheeling finished with a big smash by Terrell, a kill by Amanda Prause (4 kills) and a dump by setter Jess Janowski (30 assists) for the match winner.

"It was a well-played match on both fronts," said Meadows coach Joe Di Silvio, who started 'Hawaiian Night' back when he was the head girls coach at Elk Grove. "We just missed some opportunities and Wheeling played well at the end."

King and Natalie Klancnik (17-of-17 serving with an ace) each had 13 assists for Meadows while Madeline Rebsamen was 15-of-15 serving with an ace. Teammate Katie Zanocco put down 10 kills.

Defense was a key for the Wildcats who were led by Hala Fakhoury (19 digs), Janowski (15), Terrell (15) and Shannon Kennedy (12).

Offensively, Rochelle Laude contributed 6 kills for the visitors while Jazmyn Veloso was 14-of-16 serving with an ace. Kennedy was also 13-of-13 serving.

"Shannon (Kennedy) is one of those players who does not get a lot of recognition in the stats but she is really the glue of our back row," Kopkowski said. "She is outstanding in everything from serve receiving to serving, to hustle plays."

And the Wildcats sure hustled for this win.

Glenbrook North d. Maine West: Glenbrook North won the CSL North match 25-11, 22-25, 25-22 over the visiting Warriors (12-10, 3-4), who were led by Jessica Riedl (11 kills), Reilly Olson (10 kills) and Sophia Saldana (12 digs).