Girls volleyball: Glenbard East edges rival Willowbrook
Glenbard East pin hitter Allison Hamaker moved from the right side to the left this season, which girls volleyball coach Marci Maier admits is a little unusual for a left-hander. But it probably would not have mattered where Hamaker was hitting from Thursday in Villa Park.
The 6-foot sophomore pounded out 19 kills and added 3 blocks to lead the visiting Rams to a 25-22, 22-25, 25-10 nonconference victory over Willowbrook.
"She was one of our leaders last year as a freshman," Maier said. "She played right side and I'm asking her to play out of position because I need her on the left side. She's a lefty and most lefties don't play on the outside. Her true position is on the right side, but she's doing an awesome job.
"She was one of our highest kill efficiency hitters and our second-leading hitter last year, but she only played front row," the coach added. "This year she's playing all the way around. She's got a tough serve, and we've got a lot of girls playing extremely well."
Hamaker had 9 kills in the first game to help Glenbard East (15-11) rally from an early 11-6 deficit.
"This was really a spectacular match," Hamaker said. "Our defense was spot on, our setting was spot on. I had great sets. Willowbrook was giving us a run for our money, but we wanted this match. This match was so much fun. I was looking forward to it all year."
Willowbrook (11-9) took control early in Game 2 and enjoyed its biggest lead at 13-7 when Olivia Pennebaker blasted a shot off the Glenbard East block. The Rams fought their way back and tied the game at 22, but Pennebaker's ace at set point forced the match to a third game.
"Before the third game I was talking to (setter) Meghan Wozniak and said, 'We are not losing this game,'" Hamaker said.
Glenbard East junior middle Erin Cluskey must have overheard the conversation, because she opened Game 3 with a block and consecutive kills. Before the Warriors knew what hit them, they found themselves trailing 15-2.
"I can't explain in the second set because we just came off a comeback in the first set," Maier said. "Sometimes you start a little slow, but like I told the girls, I'd rather finish strong and have that momentum at the end of the game.
"Willowbrook was making some nice plays," she added. "Their middle (Milena Sogura) had some nice hits in the beginning. It took us a little while to adjust to her in the middle. Once we did, I thought our defense did a nice job picking up her hits and our block started to touch a lot more balls."
Wozniak contributed 16 assists, 6 kills and an ace for Glenbard East, which also got 19 assists from Mackenzie Bell and 17 digs from Ellen Kirsh.
Willowbrook was led by Pennebaker with 9 kills and 6 digs. Sogura added 6 kills, Emily Ligocki had 7 assists and freshman libero Payton Ceh added 12 digs.
"This was probably one of the most physically challenging matches that we played all year," Willowbrook coach Sue Bower said. "But we are doing a great job chasing the ball down and the saves that we made were incredible.
"I'm very happy with what they did," she added. "I don't have club players like everybody does, but these girls play their hearts out. I think they do a great job. This was a good match. We'll get there. We'll keep working hard."