Girls volleyball: Joliet West downs St. Francis to claim Early Bird title

After a seventh-place finish at the Conant/Fremd Early Bird Invite last season, the girls who made the trip from the south were looking to move up north in the tourney standings.

Joliet West found themselves as north as it could get among the 16-team field, also known as the Peggy Scholten Volleyball Classic, winning the long-running girls volleyball event with a 25-17, 25-22 triumph over Wheaton St. Francis on Saturday morning at Fremd High School.

Northern Illinois recruit Ava Grevengoed, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter, put down her career-high 21st kill to make it 24-22 in the second set before a back row block violation gave the Tigers their seventh win from eight matches this season in the title match.

"Wheaton St. Francis is a very disciplined team and we knew that coming in," said JW second-year Chris Lincoln, whose team lost twice to St. Francis last year, including the first round of the Early Bird. "So as you could, Ava was so special switching up her shots. She is a true athlete. She had a lot of kills like that a couple of times last year but she is doing it quickly this year.

"She took over a couple of matches Friday night and she is really leading by her play and she also is being a better leader overall. And she is getting other players on the court to play better."

In Set 1, Grevengoed put down four consecutive kills to give her team a 24-15 lead.

"I feel like my setters were really good at pushing the ball out and setting me good gos and 32s and our defense was backing us up." said Grevengoed, whose previous career high was 18 kills. "I had the encouragement from them and I just had to switch out the shots and it ended up working in our favor. I was doing sharp crosses and line and then just swinging as hard as I could to bang through the block."

Ferris State pledge Gabby Piazza added 5 kills and Natalia Harris 4 for the Tigers, who took their cues from freshman setter Julia Adams (15 assists, 5 digs) and senior Taylor Brenczewski (13 assists).

Libero Olivia Baxter, a Clarkson (NY) recruit, collected 18 digs while Isabella Nelson had 6.

"I'm very happy," added Lincoln, a former football and tennis player at Joliet Catholic. "What I want to see of these girls is happening. They are progressing every match, getting better and playing at their level. We kind of struggled (Friday night) at putting games away at certain times but today the girls did a great job of putting teams away and playing tighter volleyball."

Shay McMillen (6 kills) put down a kill to get the Spartans (6-2) to within 13-11 in Set 1 before Nelson helped her team pull away with 3 service points including an ace.

In addition to McMillen, also leading the St. Francis attack were Anna Paquette (6 kills), Emma Delaney (4), Grace Melcher (2). Senior Catherine D'Orazio had 7 digs while Rockhurst (MO.) commit KK Dumpit handed 18 assists, one day after reaching the 1,000 mark for her career.

"We're really proud of how we played," said the senior Dumpit. "We had a huge drive to show what we have. We did what we could and I'm proud. I think we could have worked on our energy but overall we did the best we could."

The Spartans' finish was their best since coach Lisa Ston's first season eight years ago when St. Francis took home first place.

"They're (Joliet West) a great team," Ston said. "Their outsides are outstanding. They can hit the ball wherever they want and their libero Baxter) digs everything. So we knew there would be strong competition coming in."

WSF improved from fifth in the tourney last season,

"I thought they did a great job this weekend," Ston said. "All the girls contributed in a positive way."

Glenbard East (7-5), which rallied from a 20-10 deficit, took third place with a 25-23, 21-25, 25-21 over Maine South (8-5).

Senior Sophia Sommesi put down a match-high 12 kills and also served 3 aces while serving the Rams back from the 20-10 first-set deficit.

"She really holds our team to a high standard and she executed when she needed to," said Rams coach Brad Cardott. "But it's an overall team effort. Our transition play was really good during that rally (from the 20-10 deficit). While Sophie had that serving run, everyone else stepped up, too."

"Hats off to them (GN)," said Maine South coach Kathleen Durkin. "They rallied back in the first set to take the lead on us in one rotation so good for them, bad for us. That's true grit on their part and we couldn't stop their No, 14 (Sommesi). She was great."

Other key players for third-year coach Cardott were setter Hannah Meyer (18 assists), senior Lauren Bradley (16 digs) and junior Grace Johnsinb (3 kills, 9 digs).

"We were in the third-place pool the last two years," Cardott said. "The girls are battling. They're doing a really good job. Anytime they are facing any sort of adversity, the girls seem to find a way to make a play to keep themselves in it."

The Rams went from 11th three years ago in the Early Bird to third on Saturday

"The seniors (Jenna Paradis, Bradley, Emma Iwaniszyn, Stephany Sulari, Meyer, Livia Robbins, Gabby Walton, Lia DiPasquale and Sommesi) have come a long way," Cardott said. "They've shown continued improvement the last three years."

Leading the Hawks were senior Jenna Noth (9 kills), Ana Petrides (8 kills, 3 blocks, 2 aces), senior libero Athena Tsalapatanis (22 digs) and sophomore setter Teegan Heneghan (15 assists).

"I would say our libero was our top player this weekend," Durkin said. "And our middle hitter (Petrides) was also very effective for us."

Maine South enjoyed its highest finish in Durkin's eight seasons in charge.

The Hawks placed seventh at the Aurora/Plainfield North tourney last week.

"Not taking anything away from Glenbard North because they're a good team but I wish we had played better overall," Durkin said, "We're happy. There are just some pieces we need to get better at."