Girls volleyball: Montini, IC Catholic Prep reach 2A sectional final
Paige Pickering and her Montini teammates have reached the sectional finals two times previously to earning another shot this week, and she's hoping the Broncos can go at least one step closer to the Class 2A state finals this time around.
On Monday the Broncos breezed past Latin 25-11, 25-9 in the second sectional semifinal at Timothy Christian, and with the win advance to take on IC Catholic Prep in the sectional finals at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Elmhurst. Pickering, who had 6 kills, 5 digs and an ace in the sweep of the Romans, is not taking anything for granted against a 30-win Knights squad that they have knocked off twice this fall.
"Obviously we didn't think we played our best," Pickering said after Monday's win. "We have a lot to step up to for IC. We know we have to step up our game for Wednesday's match because IC is a very solid team. We'll pick it up in practice tomorrow. We need to hit it hard and hope for our best come Wednesday."
The 34-1 Broncos were plenty good enough to knock off the 13-16 Romans. After jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the opener on Monday, the lead grew to 16-4 following an ace by Sophia Boumans and later three straight kills from Pickering put Montini ahead 24-6, before closing out the set 25-11.
In a similar second set, the Broncos took care of business with Madalyn Kasallis a force in the middle, Reeghan Boyer anchoring the defense and setter Jordan Heatherly finishing the night with 13 assists, 4 kills and 4 digs.
"I never felt more confident in my team out of these four years, than with this team," said Pickering. "I have high hopes for us. I want to get downstate but it's not going to come easy. It's going to take a lot of hard work."
ICCP won the first sectional semifinal match on Monday 25-1, 25-4 over Noble Street College Prep to improve to 30-7. Kasallis knows her team needs to be ready for a dogfight on Wednesday.
"It's hard to beat a team three times and we know they're really going to want to win this time so they're going to come out with a lot of fire," the Broncos senior said. "But I do feel really good. We won a lot of hard matches and we had a very tough schedule. Winning the Mother McCauley Preview (tournament) for the first time was great. I'm just super proud and hope we can keep it going for state."
First-year Montini coach Trish Samolinski is enjoying a season of firsts so far and she too hopes to keep it going.
"It's been a really memorable season for these seniors and a great send off for them. We've made a lot of firsts this year," she said. "Even me, everything we do is a first, it's like icing on the cake. They work very hard and have a lot of goals and it's the time of year where some of those goals are coming into play."