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Girls volleyball: Maine West wins thrilling opener at Elk Grove

There was no admission charge for Tuesday's nonconference girls volleyball match at Elk Grove.

So saying the fans got their money's worth would be inaccurate.

But you would be quite accurate in saying the fans couldn't have watched a more exciting match to open the season.

When it was over, junior Jessica Riedl proved to be the money player for visiting Maine West in the final set of the Warriors' 25-14, 22-25, 25-22 triumph.

The Warriors cashed in on 4 key blocks kills by the 6-foot middle hitter midway through the final set which put them in a commanding 17-6 lead.

But West would have to bank on Riedl again at the end.

Elk Grove stirred up its crowd by surviving 7 match points before Riedl slammed down her 11th kill for the match winner on a set from Christy Kolosvary.

"You just have to feed it to her (Riedl) and you know it's going to be a great hit," said Kolosvary, who had 4 assists while setting partner Aly Block had 8.

West led 24-14 before a kill from EG junior outside hitter Emma Slattery made it 25-15 and brought Kandefer to the service line for 7 intense service points.

Hitting errors and a kill from senior MacKenzie Vetter got EG to within 25-21 when Warriors coach Mike Cott called for a timeout.

Kandefer kept her cool out of the break and registered another point when West was called for a net violation.

Riedl had returned to the front row on that point and then made her presence felt with the match winner.

"I was really nervous (watching on the bench)," Riedl said. "But our team pulled it out at the end. I'm glad we started the season out at 1-0."

Junior libero Sophia Saldana helped start the Warriors' mid-set rally when she served 4 straight points for the 17-6 lead.

It started with her ace, then the blocks by Riedl.

"I was serving short, and they would overpass so Jessica could put them away," said Saldana, who recorded 8 digs.

Despite the big deficit, Elk Grove kept chipping away and finally threw the big scare at West with Kandefer's clutch service run.

"I was just trying to keep my head in the game because sometimes the fans can get to me," Saldana said about her libero duties. "They (Elk Grove) kept coming back. They wouldn't give up. But we didn't either. And then Jessica won the match for us."

Elk Grove coach Stephanie Kezios could not have been prouder.

"At the end of the match, we just talked about the importance of consistent serving," she said. "And Rachel (17-of-18 serving) kept her cool. We talked about not making errors and being confident."

"That was fun," Kandefer said of the dramatic finish. "I knew if I didn't get the serves in, we would be done. It was great hearing all my teammates, fans and people from our school cheering."

Cott said the roar from the Grens' stands affected his players.

"We allowed the excitement of the crowd get to us," he said. "To Elk Grove's credit, they played with a lot of enthusiasm and played off their crowd."

West built a 7-0 lead in Set 1 and never looked back.

Set 2 was tied at 15 when EG capped a 5-1 run on a crosscourt kill by junior Jessica Deering and ace from classmate Lexi Chirbas for a 20-16 lead it never relinquished.

"We lost a little focus in the second set," Cott said. "We've got to learn that what we do in the first set doesn't just carry over to the second one."

West's Lee Harty (senior) and Reilly Olson (sophomore) each finished with 5 kills and 1 block. Harty had 10 digs while Olson had 9.

"They played all-around solid matches," Cott said of the outside hitters.

EG was led on attack by Slattery (5 kills) while Isabel Michniak and Kandefer each had 3. Setter Mary Cronin collected 11 assists and Chirbas had 8 while Jenny Banak led the backcourt with 18 digs.

"I was very proud of our girls' ability to battle back and not hang their heads," Kezios said. "We were impressed with what we saw from Maine West and proud of our girls."

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