Girls volleyball: Hinsdale South stops Willowbrook

Maybe it was the jitters of playing in a postseason opener.

For some reason Hinsdale South lacked energy in the early going of Monday night's Class 4A Lyons Twp. regional quarterfinal against Willowbrook.

Then Kaitlyn Hurka provided a spark that got her teammates fired up. Hurka spiked 6 of her game-high 9 kills in the first set and the 14th-seeded Hornets rolled to a 25-19, 25-13 victory over 19th-seeded Willowbrook.

Hinsdale South (17-19) advanced to play No. 3 seed Glenbard West in Tuesday's semifinals.

"I think we all started to come together as a team and work more with each other and less for ourselves," Hurka said. "That really helped us work more cohesively."

Despite playing without injured senior libero Peyton Ceh, the Warriors (15-21) led 8-6 following a kill from freshman setter Katie Linnig.

The Hornets ran off the next 4 points until senior Kaitlyn Karcz landed a kill to pull the Warriors within 10-9.

That's when Hurka got going. The junior outside landed back-to-back kills and Jenna Suda and Alayna Chavez both added kills during a 6-1 run that put the Hornets in control.

Hurka and Chavez were dominant in the second game. Hurka served 7 straight points, including a pair of aces, to give the Hornets an 8-2 lead and Chavez, a 5-foot-10 senior middle, also feasted at the service line, ripping off 9 consecutive points to increase the lead to 23-7.

"I feel like working together just gets us more excited and happy," Chavez said. "I got happy."

The Warriors had success early with their tipping game, getting most of their kills on soft hits. But Hinsdale South coach Alison Balmer instructed libero Samantha Pacentine to move up to take that play away and the Warriors mustered only 3 kills in the second set.

"We did come in with a little bit of jitters and I think that's to be expected coming into postseason," Balmer said. "We started to pick up on things that they were doing and I think that helped us capitalize and take that second game as big as we did."

Junior outside Mia Lombardo had 5 kills while Chavez and Suda each had 4 for the Hornets, who made only 3 errors in the second game.

"A really important thing for us is hyping each other up," Hurka said. "When we're doing well and we're cheering for each other, we get excited and we just perform better together."

Willowbrook coach Irene Mason, whose team lost to Hinsdale South for the second time this season, can attest to that.

"They're a strong team and they didn't make a lot of errors," Mason said. "I think that was the difference tonight.

"That's how it's been for us all season. If we're on, we're on. If we have a few letups here and there, things can unravel a little bit. But I'm proud of my older girls and the leadership that they've showed and I'm excited with some of my younger girls."

Chavez is excited about getting a crack at Glenbard West, a team the Hornets did not face in the regular season.

"I feel excited because it's competitive and it's fun for us," Chavez said. "We get more excited when we play better teams, so it will be a good game."