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Glenbard West, Glenbard South healing their records

To Glenbard West, winning the championship at its own girls volleyball tournament Saturday was a good sign for the rest of the season.

It was the same for second-place Glenbard South, just slightly less so.

The Hilltoppers (13-6) came from behind to win the championship match 17-25, 25-18, 25-19 in Glen Ellyn.

Both teams have battled injuries and difficult schedules. Both are getting healthy again, and their tournament finishes show more victories could be coming.

"We've been beat up," Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said. "... We just can't get it going. We've been up and we've been down. It's nice where we can have a tournament where we can come out of it on top."

Mastandrea still hopes to get four-year starter Nina Crawford back from a dislocated finger soon as well.

"Us going through this and winning is really good, long term," he said.

"We've had a rough couple of weeks, so definitely this has really boosted our confidence," Hilltoppers senior Katie Ryan added. "We've really shown what we can do without a full team."

The Raiders (9-11) were a mix of disappointed and optimistic.

"Overall I'm pleased with the way that we played," said Raiders coach Chad Grant, whose team placed seniors Maggie Bair and Beth Kohl on the all-tournament team. "... We're headed in the right direction. We're going to keep getting better from here."

The Raiders looked strong in winning that first game.

"We were serving really well and getting the ball in the seams and I feel like our offense was clicking," Grant said. "We knew that they were going to play better than that. I think we just ran out of gas at the end. It's been a long weekend. We played Thursday and two (matches) yesterday and three today. We're battling some nagging injuries and just trying to get healthy right now."

The Hilltoppers felt confident they could come back.

"We're a team that we'll always go up and down in sets," said Ryan, who had 25 digs in the Hilltoppers' three matches Saturday. "We'll always go to a third, I feel. It was really just a mental thing, I think. Coach Pete does a good job of getting us out of that third-game funk."

Ryan was named tournament MVP.

"She's been playing really well," Mastandrea said. "She's holding our defense together."

Joliet West defeated Lake Park 25-19, 25-15 in the third-place match. Glenbard East beat Glenbard North 25-20, 25-18 in the fifth-place match.

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