Girls volleyball: Meadows downs Wheeling on annual 'Hawaiian Night'

The annual 'Hawaiian Night' girls volleyball match was held on Tuesday night when Wheeling hosted Rolling Meadows.

"It's fun because we all like to dress up and everyone gets into the theme," said Meadows senior middle hitter Leticia Avellaneda. "Coming to Wheeling, it's a great atmosphere and it just brings a fun element to the match."

Avellaneda sure brought her serving game as well.

She went 15-for-15 with 3 aces including her longest run of consecutive points in the second set as the Mustangs got back to .500 with a 25-18, 25-7 triumph over the Wildcats.

Avellaneda served 6 straight points to give Meadows a 7-2 advantage in the second set. She then finished off the match with a pair of points, including her third ace.

"She has been working very hard on her serving in practice," said Mustangs coach Katie Stensland, whose team is 13-13 and 4-3 in the Mid-Suburban East. "And it is definitely starting to show."

The Mustangs can show the traveling 'Coconut trophy' in their trophy case for the first time in three years.

"It's been three years since we've had it," said Avelleneda, who also had 3 kills and a block. "We really wanted to get it back to our house."

"The girls love this night," Stensland added. "Wheeling puts up all the decorations and Jason (Kopkowski, Wheeling coach) does such a great job getting everything ready. We are excited to host it at our place next year."

In addition to Hawaiian Night, Kopkowski also presented Senior Night, honoring Nicole Nyugen, Lupe Bucio, Kamila Staniszewski, Rugile Jaciunas, Nosa Igiehon and Ellie Welter.

"Our six seniors all played four years in the program and got their chance to play tonight," Kopkowski said. "Unfortunately, as a whole, we didn't play well this match. Meadows put the pressure on us so toward the end we had chance to let some of our younger kids do some things. The seniors were able to enjoy the night a little more after the match."

Nyugen, Emily LaCaesye and Janius each had 2 kills while Grace Zambrano served an ace to give Wheeling (11-15, 2-5) a 1-0 lead in Set 2.

The first set was tied at 3-3 before Meadows took the lead for good on a kill from Errico and 3 straight service points from Sophia Salemi.

Meadows' attack was led by sophomore Ashlyn Ryan's 12 kills. Elise Kowalski added 5 while Eleanor Errico had 2 and 4 blocks.

Caroline Slowik and Natalie Klancnik had 1 kill apiece. Klancnik handed out 20 assists and the back row was led by Errico (8 digs), Ryan (6 digs) and Salemi (5 digs).

"We focused a lot on passing and we stayed in system a lot," Stensland said. "And we were able to serve really tough."