Girls volleyball: Trip to Prospect worth it for WW South

Making one of its longest road trips of the season, Wheaton Warrenville South's girls volleyball team did its best to make it short match.

The Tigers stopped host Prospect 25-15, 25-22 at the Jean Walker Field House in Tuesday's season opener in Mount Prospect.

"It was a really a far drive but I think it was worth it to get the team together and get the kinks out," said Lehigh University recruit Sarah Burau, a senior who handed out 12 assists with 3 kills and 3 blocks. "It's definitely a great start to the season, and we have Naperville Central (at home Wednesday). We are always looking forward to our next match."

Tuesday's match may have been the first time the two schools played each other in girls volleyball.

"It's worked out well because we both have five levels and commit to five levels,' said Tigers coach Bill Schreier. "We were excited to play a team we haven't seen before and it was good to get a match under out belt."

Two other Division-I recruits also helped paved the way to the triumph. Brigham Young-bound Zayna Meyer, a 6-foot-1 junior, walloped a match-high 10 kills while 6-2 Northern Illinois recruit Kaileigh Ammons, a senior, put down 4 kills.

"They're a really strong team," said Prospect coach Laura Gerber. "They played great defense. The didn't let anything drop."

The major player in that department was Tigers sophomore libero Darby Harris (10 digs, 2 aces).

"I think Darby did a nice job keeping us in system," said Schreier, who is in his 19th season running the WWS program. "Her passing and first contacts were tremendous and that really allowed our hitters to kind of get on a roll."

Junior Lizzie Chiesa added 9 digs and 4 kills for WWS.

"And middles (Ammons and 6-foot Annika Barron) did a nice job controlling things at the net," Schreier added.

Two aces by Meyer and a block by Burau gave the visitors a 14-9 lead in Set 1 and the Knights never seriously threatened after that.

Junior Lizzie Chiesa added 9 digs and 4 kills for WWS.

Set 2 was tied from 14 to 18. Meyer's smash made it 18-18 and Barron put down a kill for a 19-18 lead that South would never lose.

Meyer also put down the 21st and match-winning point.

"Traditionally, that's what we like to see from Zayna," Schreier said. "She is going to put some balls down. By nature she is a setter (which she plays in club)."

Prospect setter Sarah Skaggs handed out 14 assists, with Grace Cacini playing a major beneficiary with 5 kills. Jenna Coffey and Annie Wiley each had 3 and Ellen Sherwood a pair.

Ashlyn Gadson, Jenna Acosta and Skaggs each had a block.

"We need to work on our serve receiving," Gerber said. "It was little weak. We couldn't run our offense. It was just too slow.

"We have some things to work on. The unforced errors we made were on us - like touching the net and not turning our hands on the block. But we'll get there."

Wheaton Warrenville South got there with Burau running a 5-1 offense most the match.

"We didn't know what to expect playing Prospect," she said. "So we just came out and tried to play our own game."