Girls volleyball: Knowing that tips are her ‘best option,’ Metea Valley’s Katie Wagner stands tall in win over Waubonsie Valley

Metea Valley junior Katie Wagner knows that she’s not the tallest outside hitter around.

Standing at 5-foot-9, Wagner doesn’t pound the ball down at will like her taller counterparts. The key then becomes finesse, angles and vision as she works hard to get the job done.

“Sometimes, tipping is the best option since I can’t get up there like some girls can,” Wagner said. “I have to look at the other team, where the defense is set up and see where the holes are.”

Despite going about it in different ways, she knows the stat line at the end of the match is what matters.

Wagner led with seven kills and added a pair of aces Tuesday night as the Mustangs continued to bounce back from a rough season last fall with a 25-12, 25-21 win over district rival Waubonsie Valley in the DuPage Valley Conference opener for both teams.

Ishana Harish and Allyse King added four kills apiece for Metea (9-6, 1-0). Belle Black, Kenzie Black and Ava Edozien each came through with two kills to pace Waubonsie (1-8, 0-1).

Metea coach Dave Macdonald has been impressed with Wagner’s arsenal in her second varsity season.

“She just has an array of hitting angles and is such a smart hitter,” Macdonald said of Wagner. “She knows she’s not the tallest. You always work on those kinds of shots in practice, especially when you know what your team is.

“We’re not what we were a couple years ago when we had Kira Hutson and Camille (Morrison) where you can just send up a ball and they can do whatever they want with it.”

One way to counteract that is to run the offense with urgency so the opponent can’t properly set up their block.

“We have to be faster in our offense,” Macdonald said. “That’s been our staple with all of our outsides. Let’s be fast. Let’s swing off hands. Once we started swinging off their hands, they started reaching over and we got a lot of net calls off of it.”

That was the case right away Tuesday as the Mustangs raced out to a quick 8-3 lead and never looked back. Wagner had three kills during that stretch.

Something Wagner struggled with at times last season was serve receive. That hasn’t been the case this year, making her all the more valuable to the Mustangs.

“She was attacked a lot last year,” Macdonald said of Wagner. “People are still going at her and she’s welcoming that challenge.”

That was a point of emphasis in her offseason work both with Metea and her club team.

“I did struggle with serve receive last season, so over club season I had to focus on that to work on, so when they do attack me it’s not that big of a deal,” Wagner said. “I think for me it’s mostly a mindset. I have to have a routine for every point to make sure I’m ready for the serve.”

Waubonsie Valley coach Noel Soto is still waiting for his optimal lineup to be on the floor.

For his inexperienced team in the meantime, however, he can point to the improvements Metea made from last season’s 14-21 record with a young team as something to strive for the future.

“They were just more disciplined than us,” Soto said. “They cover the court very well.”

With a year of experience under her belt, Wagner feels like the Mustangs are closer to being back to their success of past seasons after stumbling last fall.

“I think we have the right team to do better,” Wagner said. “Our chemistry is really good.”