Fuchs gives Wheeling big assist
Senior setter Stephanie Fuchs gave her Wheeling girls volleyball team a nice lift with 25 assists Monday night at Maine West.
But she also managed to toss in a few kills.
"If it feels right, I'll do it," she said of her ability to dump the ball over the net.
The Wildcats felt real good when they left Des Plaines with a 25-16, 25-19 nonconference victory - their second season-opening win in three years under coach Jason Kopkowski.
"She has great hands," Kopkowski said of the 5-foot-7 Fuchs, who also plays club volleyball for Circus.
When Fuch's hands weren't launching a nice soft set for a kill, they were producing one themselves.
Fuchs added 2 kills for the Wildcats while senior Kayla Jordan, junior Kellie Kuzmanic and senior Allison Fallon each had 3 apiece.
"We did exactly what we wanted to do," Fuchs said. "We wanted to control the game from the start and play with a lot of energy."
The Wildcats broke open a tight first game behind some strong serving by Jordan and senior libero Annette Gorzelany. Those two combined for 9 service points which led to a 21-12 lead capped by 3 aces for Gorzelany.
"Despite working on receiving some hard serves in practice, we were not well prepared for their style of serving," said Warriors coach Randy Tiller whose team was also opening its season. "We must remedy that."
Kuzmanic served 3 aces, while Fallon had 2.
Game 2 also started out close, but the Wildcats pulled away to a 22-11 lead when Fallon served for 4 straight points, including 2 aces.
"We just kept our calm and kept playing our game," Kopkowski said. "Annette (Gorzelany, who had a team-high 4 digs) is very scrappy in the back row."
Seniors Caitlin Walsh and Colleen Finnander each had 3 kills for the Warriors, while Walsh added a block.
"And Caitlin had 4 clutch serves toward the end of Game 1," Tiller said. "She was 7 of 7 from the service line and I don't think she was even expecting to be serving. So she really stepped up. Brianna (Stasch, the Warriors' senior setter) also caught fire from the service line at the end of Game 2.
"Junior Kayla Riportella has been outstanding in practice getting to everything. She is very fast, has great volleyball IQ and can read things very well."
Tiller saw some things he liked.
"For an opener, I liked the fact the girls fought back and I see a lot of potential." he said. "Our middle attackers will be strong. Our outside hitters will be strong. We'll work on some other things."
Palatine d. Grant: Seniors Kaley Sierawski (5 kills) and Kelsey Batz (5 kills) each had 5 kills ,while juniors Laura Kluk, Heather Suiter and Amanda Hilmer added 4 apiece for the host Pirates (1-0) in a 25-13, 15-25, 25-22 nonconference victory in Fox Lake.
Kluk also handed out 16 assists, while senior teammate Gabby Mattes had 8 blocks.
St. Viator d. Dundee-Crown: Junior Emily Leazer put down 18 kills and served 7 aces for the Lions in a 22-25, 25-8, 25-12 nonconference win at Dundee-Crown.
Julie Sweeney added 6 kills for the Lions, who are off to a 5-1 start under coach Charlie Curtin.
St. Viator setter Carlyn Clevenger was 70 of 72 with 26 assists, while Lauren Bunda (9 digs), Martha McEvoy (7), Leazer (6), Clevenger (6) and Lauren Falotico (5) led the defense. Teammate Janelle Stilling had 11 blocks and Sweeney added 7.
Stevenson d. Rolling Meadows: The Patriots (2-0) posted a 25-6, 25-8 over the Mustangs (0-1) in the nonconference match in Lincolnshire.