advertisement

Metea Valley shows it is better

A sophomore starting at outside hitter and setter. A junior starting at middle hitter and second setter. A junior llbero and a sophomore middle hitter off the bench.

Mikaila Dowd said that her Metea Valley teammates don't think about how young they are.

"We don't pay attention to those kinds of things," said Dowd, a 6-foot sophomore outside hitter. "We pay attention to they have an outside hitter, a middle and a rightside. We have an outside hitter, a middle and a rightside. Let's just see who's better. It doesn't matter how old you are."

Dowd and the Mustangs were definitely the better team Tuesday at Naperville Central. Dowd had 9 kills, a block and an ace to lead the Mustangs to a 25-11, 25-19 victory over the Redhawks. It was Metea Valley's first win in the DuPage Valley Conference.

"It just felt real nice because everyone was together," Dowd said. "We had practice yesterday and we were talking about our goals and that we have to reach them. One of those goals we are achieving right now. We're together, everyone has the same focus and everyone is having a good time."

Metea Valley (14-13, 1-2) stormed to a 20-8 lead in Game 1 behind Dowd and sophomore setter Sydney Aitchison, who had 3 aces during a 6-0 run that extended a 6-3 lead. Naperville Central took an early 4-1 lead in Game 2, but consecutive aces by sophomore libero Claire Rothenberger erased the deficit.

"They played with a lot of confidence," said Metea Valley coach David MacDonald, whose team went toe-to-toe with Neuqua Valley and Plainfield Central last weekend at Waubonsie Valley. "That's what we've been working toward all year long.

"You have basically two months to put together a team at the beginning of the year and you're going to have your up and downs," he added. "We've had them. Now, hopefully, we're getting things straightened out."

Metea Valley got 8 assists from junior setter Miranda Cada, 5 kills from Alexis Bass and 4 kills from Natalie Krasuski. Naperville Central (7-12, 1-2) was led by Samantha Herron with 7 kills.

"We struggled to pass the ball, which meant we struggled to run all of our attackers," Naperville Central coach Jeff Danborn. "It was a bad one for us. We need to be accountable for what we do. We just can't think that team is going to give us anything. We got to work for it."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.