Girls volleyball: Fox Valley area teams set for sectionals
Class 4A East Aurora sectionalTuesday's semifinals: No. 1 St. Francis (34-3) vs. No. 4 Neuqua Valley (29-8), 6 p.m.; No. 2 St. Charles North (34-3) vs. No. 6 Naperville North (27-10), 7 p.m. Championship is at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Outlook: It's time for the heavy hitters to battle it out in the spacious East Aurora gym in a sectional that promises to be ultracompetitive. St. Francis is the top seed and the No. 1 team in the Daily Herald Top 20, not to mention being the three-time defending state champion in Class 3A. But before No. 2 seed St. Charles North can think about St. Francis or Neuqua Valley, the North Stars have a semifinal date against red-hot sixth-seeded Naperville North, which upset No. 2 seed Geneva in the regional finals. "We're really excited," said SCN coach Lindsey Hawkins, whose team survived Waubonsie Valley's upset bid with a 3-set win in the regional title match. "Playing Waubonsie Valley gave us a little kick in te butt. We made a lot of errors and teams like Waubonsie Valley and Naperville North will capitalize on that so we need to figure that out. That was a reality check. These girls really want it but they know it's not going to be easy."
The North Stars beat Naperville North in 2 sets at the Minooka tournament on Oct. 17 but Hawkins has great respect for the Huskies.
"They're a team that rallies," she said. "They're a team that when they get down they just keep coming back. They keep pushing and I really respect them for that. We can't take plays off against them."
Hawkins called Huskie senior and Iowa recruit Emily Bushman "one of the best liberos I've seen."
The North Stars counter with three Division I recruits in seniors Claire Anderson (DePaul, 342 kills, 121 digs), Daley Krage (Northwestern, 257 kills, 132 digs) and setter Jaclyn Taylor (Creighton, 61 kills, 111 digs).
Advancement: The winner of the East Aurora sectional advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. Bolingbrook supersectional to face the winner of the Lyons sectional, whose participants are Benet, Sandburg, Mother McAuley and Marist.
Class 4A Hampshire sectionalTuesday's semifinals: No. 1 Cary-Grove (31-5) vs. No. 6 Crystal Lake Central (27-10), 6 p.m.; No. 3 Crystal Lake South (22-15) vs. No. 2 Prairie Ridge (26-11), 7 p.m. Championship is at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Outlook: One thing's for sure: District 155 will have a team playing in the supersectional round. The district's four schools all won regional titles and now converge on Hampshire's gym with a sectional championship to compete for.
"It's going to be an interesting sectional," said Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis. "They're all friends and a tight group. Any team can beat anyone on a given night. All four teams really deserve to be there and it's a great thing for our district."
Cary-Grove advanced to the sectional by knocking off Huntley in 2 sets to win the Jacos regional. The Trojans have been led all season by hitters Allie Splitt and Maddy Katchen and the setting of floor general Erin Olson, a Bradley recruit.
"A lot of these girls have been on varsity 3-4 years and that's really contributed to our consistency," Langanis said. "Erin is such a phenomenal passer and our ball control has been really good so we've been able to run the middle more than we did last year."
The Trojans defeated CL Central, which won a 4A regional for the first time, twice this season, at the Prairie Ridge tournament and the Jacobs tournament. Langanis says her team is focused on CL Central, which beat Dundee-Crown for the D-C regional title, and not looking forward to a possible rematch with Prairie Ridge, which beat the Trojans 2 weeks ago in the unofficial Fox Valley Conference championship game.
"They really have their nose to the grindstone right now and they're not looking past Central at all," Langanis said. "Central is loaded with size and when they play their game they're very dangerous. But I'm confident in our players and it's exciting to see their motivation and dedication at this point of the season."
CL Central is led by the sophomore twin tandem of Emily Kelly, who had 11 kills and 5 blocks, and Megan Kelly, who added 9 kills, 7 blocks, 11 assists, and 8 digs in the Tigers' 3-set win over Dundee-Crown.
CL South, which won a sectional last year but was hit hard by graduation, outlasted DeKalb in 3 sets in the regional finals and now has the challenge of facing a PR team that has six players who stand 6-foot or taller and six more who are 5-10 or 5-11. Erin McNeil, a 6-3 sophomore, led the way for the Wolves, who are in a sectional for the first time since 2012, in their 2-set win over Belvidere North in the regional finals with 7 kills and 7 digs. Senior libero Slone Salerno had 12 digs in that match and 6-3 senior Savannah Sheridan added 6 kills.
"We haven't had to face much size in conference but they have a very big lineup so we have to figure a way to beat that or at least work around it," said Gators' coach Jorie Fontana.
The Gators' offense has been fueled most of the season by senior Kendall Kilberger but Fontana also lauds the play of sophomore setter Emily Slimko and 5-11 junior Jordan Proszenyak as being key to CL South being back in the sectional.
"Emily has really filled a nice role for us and she's learning along the way and Jordan has been consistent all season. She definitely gets it done," Fontana said.
Advancement: The Hampshire sectional winner advances to the Grayslake Central supersectional at 6 p.m. Saturday to face the Libertyville sectional champ. Libertyville, Lakes, Stevenson and Carmel are the teams participating in that sectional.
Class 3A Glenbard South sectionalTuesday's semifinals: No. 1 Glenbard South (25-12) vs. No. 5 Fenwick, 6 p.m.; No. 2 Rosary (23-14) vs. No. 3 Nazareth (25-12), 7 p.m. Championship is at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Outlook: Rosary coach Rachel Fox feels her team is comparable to the rest of the field in this 3A sectional but admits she doesn't know all that much about Nazareth, which beat Montini in 2 sets to win the IMSA regional.
"I don't have much to go off but I think we're a comparable team," Fox said. "We're the No. 2 seed and I think we can compete with the top teams."
Fox has been impressed with her team's offense this season, which is led by junior Erin Burke, 6-2 junior Meegan Hart and 5-10 setter Julia Gauthier. The defense is led by junior libero Martha Konovodoff.
"We've had some players really stepping up," Fox said. "Erin had a real nice match in the regional finals (against IC Catholic Prep) and we have great offensive players all the way around. When we run our tempo we're tough to beat and Martha has been doing a great job defensively. The team really trusts her."
Nazareth hs a balanced hitting attack with 6-3 Emma Decker (224 kills), senior Maeve Grimes (213), sophomore Kelsi Chambers (202) and senior Karli Chambers (198) leading the way.
Advancement: The Glenbard South sectional winner advances to the IC Catholic supersectional at 1 p.m. Saturday to face the Woodstock sectional champ. Marian Central, Richmond-Burton, St. Viator and Regina Dominican are the participants at Woodstock.
Class 2A Fulton sectionalTuesday's semifinals: Lena-Winslow vs. Keith Country Day, 6 p.m.; St. Edward (18-15) vs. Fulton (29-8), 7 p.m.
Outlook: It's gas up the bus and take the credit card to fill it up for the trip home for St. Edward, which has a 2½-hour ride to the banks of the Mississippi River to play the host Steamers in Tuesday's semifinals. Green Wave coach Jaime Dovichi admits the task is daunting.
"Two-and-a-half hours and playing on their home court is going to be tough," said Dovichi, whose fifth-seeded team knocked off No. 1 Rockford Lutheran in the regional finals at Somonauk for its first regional title since 2012.
Fulton, a powerful program in the early 2000s that also won a sectional title in 2013, defeated Dakota in the regional finals behind 11 kills and 11 blocks from 6-foot senior Betsy Leonard, who has 283 kills and 174 blocks for the season. Senior libero Averi Leitzen (350 digs), junior Jordan Price (114 kills), junior Taylor Curley (333 assists) and senior Camerin Huizenga (400 assists, 63 aces) are the Steamers' other top players.
"They have four pretty aggressive hitters and a 6-foot middle (Leonard)," Dovichi said. "We know they run a 6-2 and we've been working on defending the middle."
While junior Dominique Washington (312 kills, 190 digs, 35 aces) has been St. Edward's leader all season, the Green Wave are far from a one-girl team, as witnessed by 12 kills from Megan Barth in the regional finals.
"Megan Barth has been playing awesome in the middle," Dovichi said. "She's a huge part of our offense and everyone else is doing a good job of being smart with the ball."
Despite being just over .500, Dovichi points to St. Edward's always-tough schedule as being a positive at this point of the season.
"I thought we had the skill when we came in and we still play a tough schedule," she said. "We're excited to be playing in the sectional."
The other side of the bracket has Keith Country Day, bumped up to Class 2A this season after winning the last three Class 1A state titles.
Advancement: The Fulton sectional winner advances to Saturday's 7 p.m. Bureau Valley supersectional to take on the winner of the Knoxville sectional. Competing at Knoxville are Orion, Eureka, Minonk Fieldcrest and Monmouth United.
Class 1A Harvest Christian sectionalTuesday's semifinals: St. Francis deSales vs. Schaumburg Christian, 6 p.m.; Harvest Christian (22-14) vs. St. Benedict, 7 p.m. Championship is at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Outlook: Harvest Christian is seeking its fifth straight sectional title and with Keith Country Day now in Class 2A, the Lions stand a much better chance of possible going downstate for the first time.
Harvest, which rolled over Faith Lutheran in the regional finals, is led by junior Mikayla Robinson (200-plus kills), a South Carolina recruit and the daughter of former Bears' wide receiver Marcus Robinson. The Lions, under the direction of first-year coach Carissa Oelke, have also gotten stellar play all season from senior Ellie Burzlaff, junior setter Hannah Murray and sophomore defender Candis Kaplan.
Advancement: The Harvest sectional winner advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. Westminster Christian supersectional and will play the winner of the Polo sectional. Lanark Eastland, Stockton, Galena and Milledgeville are the competing teams at Polo.