Girls volleyball: Metea Valley still undefeated after taking invite title

Not even a pair of early Saturday matches following a long Friday night could prevent Metea Valley from extending the best girls volleyball start in program history.

After going 3-0 in pool play at the Willowbrook Invite on Friday, the Mustangs cheered on the school's football team in a long contest, then returned to the courts bright and early to finish off their defense of the Willowbrook title. Metea Valley knocked off Addison Trail 25-22, 25-23 to reach the finals, then knocked off Glenbard South 25-19, 25-13 to claim top honors.

"It's tough. We played three matches Friday night and then two early matches," Mustangs coach Dave Macdonald said. "The girls were there to support the football program late last night, so we had to get that energy back up a little bit. But hey, this was one of our goals, to win this again."

Mission accomplished. Strong serving and defense, coupled with a balanced attack, was too much for the Raiders, who also dropped a two-setter to the Mustangs the night before in pool play.

Senior defensive specialist Maggie Petersen, who will join her sister Ellie on the volleyball team at West Point next year, had 7 digs and 2 aces in Saturday's title match. One of 12 seniors on the squad, Petersen knew this season could be a special one for Metea Valley (12-0).

"We knew that we were going to have a strong team this year," said Petersen, whose Mustangs will put their perfect record up against top-ranked Geneva this week. "We have a lot of depth and we do have an older team and we're using it to our advantage. It's nice to have that chemistry because that carries onto the court and into our play."

Outside hitter Mikaila Dowd, a 6-foot junior, is the team's top attacker, and she recorded 5 kills. Sydnie Herrmann led the way with 8 kills and Jaida Dowd, Mikaila's older sister, added 6 kills in the finals.

"This is my third year and we've never won two tournaments in a row and won as many games at the beginning as we have," Mikaila Dowd said. "This is real. We're so well-rounded this year. We have two amazing setters. A very strong offense. Our defense is getting really good, and I think it's only gonna get better. I have really high hopes."

Sydney Aitchison and Miranda Cada combined for 22 assists, while libero Claire Rothenberger had 9 digs as a number of Mustangs played well. The Raiders, meanwhile, were without talented outside Kathleen Millett for the weekend, and the inexperienced squad was not quite up to the task.

"Every game they went on one, big serving run - both days - that kind of took us out of it," said Glenbard South coach Chad Grant, whose 5-6 team has already faced area powers Glenbard West, St. Francis, Wheaton North and now Metea twice.

"That's a credit to them. They have some good servers. But it's good for us to practice against that early in the season. We don't have a lot of club players so they're getting caught up to that high level speed," he said.

Senior outside Bella Bauman had 9 kills for the Raiders, while sophomore middle Maggie Bair added 4 kills.

Addison Trail (4-4) avenged a Friday loss to West Chicago to finish third after a 25-20, 25-21 defeat of the Wildcats.