Girls volleyball: Wheeling remains focused, stops Rolling Meadows

Playing its first match in years as an undefeated Mid-Suburban League division leader, Wheeling's girls volleyball team hardly blinked an eye.

And it seemed in a blink of an eye the Wildcats were up 6-0 against visiting Rolling Meadows on Tuesday night.

Talk about setting a tone.

After a service point from sophomore Kamila Staniszewski, Arkansas State recruit Timber Terrell electrified the crowd with 4 straight booming kills for a 5-0 cushion.

An ace by Staniszewski made it 6-0 and the Wildcats were on their way to a 25-10, 25-23 victory in the MSL East where they improved to 4-0 while Rolling Meadows slipped to 14-9 and 2-2.

"Timber (10 kills) is an amazing player." said Wildcats senior Rochelle Laude (3 kills, 3 blocks). "She gives us so much confidence and makes everyone else want to go out there and fight. She brings the whole team up and gives us energy."

The energized Wildcats (15-7) were never threatened in Set 1 and then pulled out a tight second set with Staniszewski (10 kills on 16-of-16 hitting) providing the winning kill after Maddie Sellergren's kill brought the visitors to within 24-23.

"Kamila kept the ball in play and was striking the ball very consistently and with lots of power," said Wildcats coach Jason Kopkowski, who was going up against his alma mater.

The Wildcats faced their biggest deficit of the match at 9-5 in the second set following an ace by Natalie Anderson and kill by Sellergren.

A kill by the Wildcats' Melissa Claver tied the set at 10 before Wheeling gained the lead at 14-11 with back-to-back aces by Staniszewski (8 digs).

But Meadows fought back again and the set was tied at 14, 15, and 16 before the hosts got the lead for good.

Terrell's kill of an overpass made it 17-16 before a service point from setter Jessica Janowski (18-16).

The lead was 22-18 when Meadows' Madeline Rebsamen served 2 points, including an ace, to close the deficit to 22-20.

Claver's kill eventually made it 24-21. Meadows held off 2 match points before Staniszewski's match winner.

"We game-planned for them, but I thought we psyched ourselves out too much in the first set," said Mustangs coach Joe Di Silvio. "We thought too much about what they were doing instead of what we wanted to do.

"We dug such a deep hole to come out of in that first set but I was proud of what we did in the second set."

Sellergren led the Mustangs with 4 kills while Kyra Amundson and Katie Zanocco had 2 apiece.

Setters Natalie Klancnik and Mallory King each had 4 assists. Macie Robinson collected 6 digs.

"Obviously Wheeling is a very good team and put a lot of pressure on us," Di Silvio said. "We struggled with our passing tonight."

Janowski handed out 20 assists with 9 digs for Wheeling while libero Hala Fakhoury collected 10 digs, second to Terrell's 14.

Staniszewski and teammate Shannon Kennedy each added 8 digs. Amanda Prause led the hosts with 4 blocks.

"We knew Rolling Meadows was a very good team so we prepared accordingly," Kopkowski said. "It just goes back to how driven the girls are to challenge themselves and play the best they can regardless of the opponent. It's fun to be part of this."

"We have to keep working and practicing hard," Laude added. "It's all about energy on the court. My teammates mean everything to me. I wouldn't want to be on the court with anyone else."