Meadows says 'aloha' to Coconut trophy after topping Wheeling

With the Coconut trophy at stake on Hawaiian Night, the Wheeling and Rolling Meadows girls volleyball teams were going all out for the final points of Wednesday's Mid-Suburban East match.

With the fans on both sides roaring with every point, the visiting Mustangs finally prevailed for a 25-23, 17-25, 25-22 triumph that gave them their third 20-win season in four years under coach Joe DiSilvio.

Capping the thrilling finish was a kill from Maddie Sellergren and ace by Megan Mich for 24th an 25th points.

"We really wanted the Coconut trophy so this was exciting," said Mustangs senior outside hitter Gabrielle Paige, who had 4 kills and 3 blocks as the Mustangs improved to 20-12-1 and 6-4.

"We worked hard to do it. Even when we messed up, we kept fighting for the win. I really love the whole night. We get to dress up for it at school, plus it's homecoming week."

The theme night was created by DiSilvio when he coached the Elk Grove varsity for eight years prior to taking over at Meadows.

Fans sit in lawn chairs on the sidelines wearing leis, and the officials also sported Hawaiian shirts.

"When I came over to Meadows I was happy that Jason (Kopkowski, Wheeling coach) was interested when I asked him," DiSilvio said. "He likes the idea. It's kind of like a homecoming for him because he graduated from Meadows. He's a great guy and we have fun playing against each other in the match every year."

The winning team gets to host the match the following season.

So Kopkowski and the Wildcats will try to get the Coconut trophy back on Meadows' court next season.

"I'm glad Joe asked and I'm glad we do it," Kopkowski said. "We'll keep it going as long as we are both the head coaches. It gives us something to look forward to each season."

It gave the fans quite an exciting outcome as both teams had their chances in Set 3.

Back-to-back crowd-pleasing kills by junior Timber Terrell gave Meadows an 18-14 lead. Back-to-back blocks by Hannah Mickey closed the deficit to 18-16 and the set was eventually tied at 19, 20 and 21 before Meadows nudged ahead for good.

A block by Mich and kill by Sellergren made it 23-21.

Wheeling (5-18, 3-7) got to within 23-22 when Michaela Vasey put down a well-paced crosscourt kill.

"We almost did it," said Vasey, who was honored before the game for senior night along with Annalisa Baranowski and Elli Parisi. "It was so close it could have gone either way. We've been in bit of a slump but we played with a lot more confidence than we have been."

Terrell led the Wildcats with 14 kills while Vasey added 10 and Rhochelle Laude had 5.

Jessica Janowski handed out 24 assists while Hala Fakhoury had 20 digs.

"We've been struggling the last couple of matches," Kopkowski said. "So it was nice to see the girls respond on senior night, Hawaiian Night and our last conference match. Hopefully this was a step in the right direction."

Sellergren led the Mustangs with 9 kills, followed by Mickey (8) and Jenny Srnak (4).

Megan King added 3 kills and 12 assists while Mich had 7 assist and 1 kill.

Top servers were Mich (17-of-18, 1 ace), King (13-13) and Madeline Rebsamen (13-of-13).

Paige Connor sparked the back row, collecting 8 digs.

"Paige did a nice job," DiSilvio said. "There was some pressure there at the end and she came through.

"This was a tough match. It was not easy to win it. We told the girls before it started that was a big match for a few different reasons. No. 1, it was Hawaiian Night and we wanted to get the Coconut back. No. 2, we were fighting for third place in the conference and No. 3, the girls could get 20 wins."