Elk Grove serves up more winning tradition

The Golden Coconut Award stays in Elk Grove.

Since "Hawaiian Luau Night" began in 2006, the award has actually never left the Elk Grove trophy case.

For the fourth straight season on Grenadiers' floor, Elk Grove's girls volleyball team defeated Prospect to win the traveling trophy - which has yet to travel.

Some nifty serving and defense played a major part in the Grenadiers' 25-17, 25-16 victory which moved the hosts to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the Mid-Suburban East.

In Game 1, junior Leah Miller clicked for the first jump-serve ace of her career.

In Game 2, classmate Jessica Condon fired 4 straight aces during a streak of 9 service points which gave the Grens a commanding 20-13 lead.

"Winning this match is a great tradition here," said Miller, whose 6 kills tied teammate Amanda Gattone for team honors. "It's four years straight of winning this match. And l've been trying to get that jump serve down for so long."

"Leah did a great job with her serve," said Grens coach Joe Di Silvio. "She's been working on it so long, so it's nice to see it pay off. She's been close to that first ace, fighting to get it and finally did."

Miller's milestone ace made it 7-2 and a tip by Gattone increased the lead to 8-2.

"We served really tough this match," Gattone said. "We really connected as a team."

Condon (12 assists) connected for her big streak in Game 2 with her team trailing 12-11 after back-to-back kills by Prospect's Rachel Hunt and Danielle Siwik.

"Oh gosh, that was huge big-time in Game 2," Di Silvio said of Condon's service run. "We played really well, Our strength came through with our serve and defense."

The defense was led by Stephanie Pizzo (8-9 serve receiving, 8 digs), Olivia Roback (8-of-8 serve receiving, 13 digs), Jessica Mueller (6-of-6 serve receiving, 7 digs, Condon (6 digs) and Tara Braceros (6 digs, 2 aces).

"Stephanie Pizzo played some great defense," Di Silvio added about his 5-foot-5 senior outside hitter.

Prospect (2-2, 1-1) was led by Sarah Hunt (5 kills, 2 blocks) and Rachel Hunt (3 kills, 2 blocks) as Siwik (7 assists) and Abby Horwath (3 assists) directed the offense.

"I give Elk Grove a lot of credit," said Prospect coach Mike Riedy. "I was watching them in warmups and I said to my girls that this is going to be trouble. They have six solid players on the floor and they pretty much demonstrated that this match. I couldn't find a weak player to go after.

"Their service was brutally good in Game 2. I think we reached the point where we stopped playing to win and just to survive. And Elk Grove capitalized on that."

Hersey d. Buffalo Grove: Hersey (8-1, 2-0) received 8 kills apiece from Katie Lill and Maddie Swan in a 25-11, 25-13 victory. Joanna Hoffman added 7 kills and 22 assists for the Huskies, who are the only unbeaten team in the MSL East.

The Bison (2-7, 0-2) were led on attack by Sam McCormack, Kelly Sommers and Alanna Zawlocki who all had 2 kills.

Palatine d. Schaumburg: Kaley Sierawski (12 kills) and Hannah Guth (7) led Palatine in the 25-15, 25-18 victory in the MSL West. Syndey Wiedemann collected 8 digs, followed by Sierawski (7) and Jenny Solberg (5).

Emily Young and Alyssa Saklak each had 4 kills for Schaumburg (3-6, 1-1) while Bria Hailey and Rachel Stuehm each had 3.

Hoffman Estates d. Conant: Senior setter Stephanie Schwartz handed out 13 assists as Hoffman (6-4) posted a 25-19, 25-13 triumph to improve to 2-0 in the MSL West. Kelsey Lukowicz and Lauren LaMasse each had 7 kills for the Hawks. Teammate Michelle Kelley had 4 blocks.

Taylor Levit (9 digs), Allie Bauch (7), Katie Nettenstrom (6) and Antoinette Schiffer (6) led the defense for the Cougars (4-5, 0-2).

R. Meadows d. Wheeling: Rolling Meadows (2-7, 1-1) was paced on attack by Samanatha Rosinski (7 kills) and Kelly Adair (5) in a 26-24, 17-25, 25-21 victory. Setter Emily Nelms handed out 19 assists.

Bianca Szafarowicz (9 kills, 15 digs), Lauren Addis (9 kills, 4 digs) and Kelsie Jurik (8 kills, 8 digs) led the attack in Wheeling's 26-24, 27-25, 25-21 triumph.

Stephanie Fuchs collected 22 assists and Samantha Calderon had 11 for the Wildcats (4-5, 1-1).

Alden Hebron d. Christian Liberty: Hebron defeated CLA 20-25, 25-23, 25-19 in the conference opener. Taylor White led CLA (2-1, 0-1) with 6 kills.