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Girls volleyball: Stevenson slugs it out against Wheeling

Talk about your heavyweight fight - the volleyball version, that is.

In this corner was Stevenson slugger, Jori Radtke. On the other side of the net came Wheeling leaper Timber Terrell.

For fans of furious hitting, the Buffalo Grove regional was the place to be.

Radtke had 16 kills in two sets. Terrell, the MSL East player of the year, came up with 10.

It was entertaining stuff, and Stevenson (30-7) eventually connected for a 25-17, 25-19 victory. The Patriots will report to the Lakes sectional come Tuesday to face NSC rival Lake Forest.

"We played very well,'' Radtke said. "We scouted Wheeling quite a bit. We put a double block on Timber and if that didn't work, we put a triple block on her."

Sure it was a two-set sweep, but that didn't mean it was a complete runaway.

On a service ace from Stevenson libero Chloe Robinson, the Pats' lead was just 8-7 in set one.

"As a team, we've really grown,'' Robinson said. "We've all come together, especially in the playoffs."

Radtke and Sarah Woodstein added kills for Stevenson and that helped the Pats open up a 14-10 lead.

Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski was proud of his 24-win season.

"We had a lot of quality wins this year,'' Kopkowski said. "And Timber (Arkansas State commit), is a great athlete and gives us great effort out there."

With southpaw sophomore Sophie Sorenson serving, Radtke finished off two more kills. Terrell ended that rally with a kill of her own for the Wildcats (24-13).

With setter Alex Cuc at the serving line, Radtke and Hope Havenhill registered kills as the Stevenson lead reached 22-15.

Stevenson coach Tim Crow was quick to credit his latest defensive player.

Rebecca Sullivan paced the Pats' defense with 6 digs.

"She had been on our JV team,'' Crow said. "We've had some injuries so this was just her second match ever on varsity."

On a Terrell block and a kill, Wheeling had a lead at 4-3 in the second set.

"She's an unbelievable athlete,'' Crow said of Terrell.

With Shannon Kennedy serving, Wheeling had a kill from sophomore Kamila Staniszewski. Wheeling still led, 9-8. It took two strong service runs from Sorenson and Lauren Micek as the Patriots took control at 18-12. Radtke had 3 more kills.

"Our setting (Cuc) was awesome tonight,'' Radtke said.

Cuc earned 23 assists in the two sets.

With another 30-win season in the bag, Stevenson earned the No. 2 seed in the Lakes sectional.

"I thought that was a high seed for us,'' Crow said. "I really think this sectional is the most competitive I've seen. The teams are very talented. It will be interesting who will be the best."

Sorenson had 6 kills for the Pats. Havenhill added 4 more kills. For Wheeling, both Staniszewski and Amanda Prause had 4 kills each.

  Wheeling's Timber Terrell (17) places the ball between Stevenson's Jori Radtke (5) and Sara Bufe (12) for a point during Thursday's girls volleyball regional final at Buffalo Grove. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.comStevenson's Alexandra Cuc makes a dig during Thursday's girls volleyball regional final match against Wheeling at Buffalo Grove.
Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.comWheeling's Jessica Janowski sets the ball during Thursday's girls volleyball regional final against Stevenson at Buffalo Grove.
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