Girls volleyball: Maine West downs Leyden to keep designs on 20-win season
It was Teacher's Appreciation Night for Maine West's girls volleyball team on Wednesday night in Des Plaines.
The Warriors' powerful attacker Viviana Ramirez' honorary teacher was Chris Adante, a former Maine West athletic director who teaches business classes.
"I had him for graphics design as a sophomore," said Ramirez, a senior co-captain.
The Warriors' outside hitter was all business as usual, putting down a match-high 5 kills and the Warriors continued their designs on a possible 20-win season by capturing their eighth straight match, 25-14, 25-7 over Leyden in a nonconference match.
West (15-8, 6-1) was coming off its biggest win of the Central Suburban North season (over Deerfield), winning in two sets on Tuesday night. Maine West and Niles North each have one loss in the conference.
"I think we've grown so much as a team since the start of the season," Ramirez said. "Every single person works so hard and it has really shown in the last few matches. Everyone contributes. It was so nice to see the teachers out there who we care about so much about. They're so important to us. To be able to combine academics and volleyball tonight made it a real special night."
Maine West took the lead for good in Set 1 on an ace by Daria Szczepura to make it 3-2.
The hosts broke it open when freshman Paige Foster put down her first of 4 kills and then served an ace for a 10-5 advantage.
Senior setter Clare Olson's ace made it 14-9 and Szczepura later served another ace to make it 17-11, igniting an 8-3 run to end the set.
Back-to-back kills by Foster made it 24-13. Moments later, Ramirez smashed a set from Olson (20 assists) down the line for the set winner.
Back-to-back aces by Olson made it 3-1 in the second set.
Szczepura got to the service with her team ahead 4-2 and served the Warriors to a commanding 14-2 cushion.
The big 10-point run started with a kill from Ramirez, an ace and a kill from Anna Montanile to make it 7-2. After 2 hitting errors, Ramirez put an overpass to the floor and Szczepura served another ace for an 11-2 lead.
After a Leyden time out, Szczepura (17 of 17 serving, 4 kills) served an ace followed by 2 kills from Montanile and a hitting error for a 14-2 lead.
West closed it out with 3 service points from junior Denise Franco (hitting error, kill by Szczepura and an ace).
Warriors coach Nora Feyerer got all of her available players on the floor, including Kyra Harrington, Bryanna Alvarez, Kayela Espinosa (3 digs), Adriana Lee (5 digs), Celestina Onyeise (1 kill) and Lena Vukasin. Montanile finished with 4 kills.
"We're really proud of her," Feyerer said of the junior OH/DS. "She did a nice job stepping up. These girls have been meshing really well together and we've seen the growth of everyone, not just one person. The girls pushed hard from the first game to really close it out in the second."
Senior OH Aleksandra Makowiec led the Eagles (4-18, 1-3) with 3 kills.
"She struggled a little in the first set," said Leyden coach Danielle Kowalkowski. "She is typically more consistent but she turned it around in the second set and had a nice match. She is a fun volleyball player to coach. I thought our libero Lizeth Avitia (junior) played a nice match. She had a lot of good digs and a lot of good, aggressive dives."