Girls state volleyball playoffs changed
The girls volleyball state playoffs feature a number of significant changes this season.
The number of classes has doubled to four, winners will play two matches in one day in regionals and sectionals, and only the final four teams in each class will play at state.
One thing that hasn't changed is the big-school class still features an overloaded area sectional.
The Class 4A Naperville North sectional contains seven of the top 11 teams in the Daily Herald's Top 20. What's more is five teams were nationally ranked by PrepVolleyball.com as of deadline -- No. 1 seed Naperville North (31st in the nation), No. 2 Naperville Central (21st), No. 3 Downers Grove South (79th), No. 4 Benet (80th) and No. 7 Plainfield North (70th).
By contrast, no other sectional in any class in the state has more than one nationally ranked team.
Ranked teams in the Naperville North sectional will be challenged to survive regionals on Oct. 27. Possible Nov. 1 sectional semifinal matchups at Naperville North include Naperville North/Waubonsie Valley against Benet/Neuqua Valley followed by Naperville Central/Plainfield North vs. Downers South/Downers North.
Making a run in the state tournament usually requires a team to peak at playoff time, and no one in the state is hotter right now than Naperville Central, which boats a dynamic duo on the outside in Emily McGee and Rebecca Heath. The last two weekends saw the Redhawks win St. Charles East's Mizuno Cup and Glenbard East's Autumnfest, both high-caliber, 24-team tourneys.
"We're proud of what we've done, but we have to try to realize that's the past," Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson said. "We have to get better and move forward."
Elsewhere in Class 4A, Wheaton Warrenville South caught a break by being assigned to the Lake Park sectional. The Tigers are the top seed followed by St. Charles North, St. Charles East and Geneva.
WW South won the DuPage Valley Conference for the first time since 1997 but only won one of its four tourneys.
"We hit some speed bumps and struggled at times in tournaments, but we didn't make adjustments (to opponents) in tournaments," Tigers coach Bill Schreier said. "We really focused on ourselves. Playoffs are all about making adjustments and executing game plans."
"Our ultimate goal is to win state, but we have to take baby steps to get there," Tigers outside hitter Becca Zlabis said.
St. Francis, now in Class 3A, will try to win its ninth state championship. Just because the Spartans have dropped a classification below many of the area powers hardly means it'll be easy for them to reach Redbird Arena. They could meet Rosary, which beat them twice in the Suburban Catholic Conference, in the Riverside-Brookfield sectional final.
"Hopefully, we'll play Rosary again," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "We would look forward to that."
The Riverside-Brookfield sectional champion advances to the St. Francis supersectional to face the winner of the Crete-Monee sectional, where Joliet Catholic and Kelly Murphy, considered the top senior in the nation, are the top seed followed by Lemont.
Add it up and St. Francis' road looks tough.
"I think it's difficult," Kopec said. "The 3A schools this year have been ranked consistently with the 4A schools. Joliet Catholic is ranked (35th) in the nation."
Kopec's club kicks off its postseason on the morning of Oct. 27 in the Aurora Central Catholic regional. It could run into No. 8 seed Glenbard South in the final there.
The ACC regional winner moves to the R-B sectional to face the winner of the Wheaton Academy regional where the fourth-seeded host and fifth-seeded Montini could meet in the final on Oct. 27.
The Class 2A Luther North sectional contains the Timothy Christian regional, which features top-seeded Westmont and the fourth-seeded host, and the Luther South regional where No. 2 seed Lisle and No. 3 Driscoll can be found. Both regional winners will be determined Thursday.
Lisle and Westmont finished as co-champions of the Interstate Eight North after splitting a pair of matches. The young Lions play four sophomores and do not have a club player on the roster.
"I think we have a real good shot to win a sectional," Lisle coach Matt Hrubesky said, "and then I think we're going to have to play real well to beat a Hampshire team (in the Hampshire supersectional) should we get there."
Immaculate Conception is the lone DuPage team in Class 1A. The Knights are the top seed in the Serena sectional, which feeds into the South Beloit supersectional. First, though, they'll host their own regional Thursday.
IC coach Jean Field, who earned her 700th career victory earlier this season, has been surfing sites of schools and newspapers to find information on such Class 1A schools as Newark, Leland and Indian Creek.
"It'll be nice to play schools our same size," said Field, whose team is comprised of eight players from a student body of 210. "I think we have as good a chance as anybody else. It's going to be interesting. The kids are excited about it."