South Elgin, Elgin fall in volleyball regional

Maine South and Maine East will renew their longtime rivalry on Thursday when they square off in the championship game at the Class 4A Elk Grove girls volleyball regional. The Hawks and the Blue Demons advanced with semifinal wins on Tuesday. Maine South fought off a scrappy Elgin squad for a 25-21, 25-15 win while Maine East, which is seeded third in its own sectional, was taken to the limit by 14th-seeded South Elgin before prevailing 25-22, 20-25, 25-15.

South and East split their two matches during the regular season. East won the first meeting in 3 games and South took the second match in 2 games.

"It's a great rivalry," South coach Peter King said. "You can expect a lot of intensity. It will be fun to watch."

South (17-19) got off to a slow start against Elgin and led just 17-15 late in Game1. However, the Hawks went on a 6-1 run to open a 23-16 lead. Elizabeth Porterfield, Lindsey Acker, and Nora Quinn each had a kill during the run.

The Hawks led most of the way in Game 2. It was close until a 6-1 run midway through opened a 16-9 advantage for South.

Ackers led the way with 6 kills and 3 aces for the Hawks. Quinn added 5 kills. Stacey Sremac had 22 assists.

"We did a better job in that second game of mixing up our shots," said Ackers. "(Elgin) was a scrappy team, so we had to keep working for open shots and watching the matchups on the pins."

Abby Pierre-Louis had 7 kills and a pair of blocks to lead the Maroons, who finished the regular season 12-23.

"We played them tough," Elgin coach Scott Stewart said. "Our goal was to not beat ourselves tonight and we didn't. We made them earn it. I told the girls afterward to be proud of what they accomplished this season. The 12 wins is more than we have had in a long time and we got a playoff win for only the third time in the last 19 years. We took a big step in the right direction this season."

Maine East (22-9) was able to bounce back in the third game against South Elgin after the Storm had stolen the momentum in the second game.

The Blue Demons jumped out to a 7-2 lead in Game 3 and never surrendered the lead. Taylor Krueger and Sophie Miller each had aces to help set the tone.

"We've had to do this a few times this year where we had to come back after dropping the second game," East coach Anne Bezak said. "We just started playing too safe in that second game. When we play aggressive is when we play are best. That's what we got back to doing in the third game."

Hannah Farley had 14 kills to lead the Blue Demons. Nikki Ahlstrand added 8 kills. Sarah Hua-Pham recorded 32 assists and also had 10 digs and 2 aces.

"In that third we just put the first 2 games behind," said Farley. "We focused on what we needed to do and went after it."

A great second game by the Storm was sandwiched by a slow start in Game 1 that they couldn't quite overcome and a breakdown in the third game.

"After the way we played in that second game I thought we were going to pull it out," said South Elgin Joni Plach. "But our passing broke down in the third game and we just couldn't stop (Farley). Still we can hold our heads high. It was a good season."

South Elgin (19-15-1) was led by Renee Rush with 10 kills and 17 assists. Katie Innis added 7 kills and 20 digs.