Girls volleyball: Glenbard West holds on, advances past Hinsdale South

With middle fingers still taped together on her left hand, Glenbard West senior Nina Crawford knows all too well that a girls volleyball season can be halted abruptly.

The 5-foot-10 hitter missed 15 matches after dislocating her finger at Marist on Sept. 6.

"It was super hard to be on the bench. It felt like almost powerless," Crawford said.

"One thing that I heard multiple times was that, 'OK, you're out, but you getting healthy is what matters for playoffs and the delayed gratification is really coming now.'"

In Tuesday's Class 4A playoff opener the Hilltoppers received quite a scare, but their veteran lineup united for a strong third set to outlast determined Hinsdale South 25-13, 23-25, 25-18 at the Lyons Township regional semifinals in LaGrange.

Glenbard West (25-11), the No. 3 seed in the York sectional, plays for its seventh straight regional title at 6 p.m. Thursday against No. 6 Lyons Township (20-13), a 25-15, 25-17 winner over No. 10 Downers Grove South. The Hilltoppers won at Lyons Twp. in two sets Oct. 16.

"It's really important for us to remember that when we play it's got to be all gas, no brakes,' Crawford said.

"We knew that we had to get it done. Everyone has had their individual best game, but that came really close to where we all really felt that power and the energy of the playoff season."

Crawford had 10 kills for the Hilltoppers, followed by 8 apiece from senior Ellory Graff and junior Virginia Curtis and 7 by senior Ananda Patterson. Senior Kaitlyn DuMerer had 26 assists and senior Katie Ryan 21 digs.

For No. 14 Hinsdale South (17-20), junior Kaitlyn Hurka had 8 of her 17 kills in the third set with 22 digs. Senior and four-year varsity setter Abby Mihalkanin had 13 assists and senior Clarissa Marron and junior Samantha Pacentine contributed 14 and 13 digs, respectively.

With all seven seniors in their regular rotation, the Hilltoppers displayed plenty of fight and experience in the third set.

Patterson had 5 kills and Crawford 4. With Crawford serving, three straight kills by Curtis opened a 5-2 lead. Back-to-back Crawford kills with Graff serving increased the lead to 10-5.

The Hornets never again got closer than four points.

"We were prepared. This is a very well-coached team. I was very, very worried about this game," Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said. "I knew it was going to be hard fought. I said (to our players), 'Stay calm, stay the course and hopefully we can prevail."

The Hilltoppers had 17 kills with 4 attack errors in the third set after the Hornets rallied to win the second set.

Trailing 22-20, the Hornets went ahead 24-22 after Hurka's two kills and block with junior Mia Lombardo and an attack error. Hurka delivered another kill for set point.

Over the last two sets Hinsdale South collected 26 kills with 13 attack errors combined after 8 kills with 12 errors in the first.

"I think we came in a little bit nervous, definitely. We just couldn't find the court the first set," Hinsdale South coach Alison Balmer said.

"It's kind of been us all season that we've never let down. We've always fought, fought, fought. We said in the huddle we need to be us and we need to control our side of the net and not worry so much about their side. I think we did that a lot better the second game. The third game I think we kind of just let them kind of have the control back a little bit. But we still fought."

Crawford, Patterson and Graff have been on varsity since their freshman season, when the Hilltoppers finished second in Class 4A. Ryan, DuMerer, Sophie Alles and Lucy Brizzolara also have been part of sectional finalists the past two seasons.

Tuesday's victory gave the Hilltoppers at least 25 victories for the ninth straight season.

"There's a lot of experience. This is a team that knows how to get it going under pressure. I was really proud of them today," Mastandrea said. "I'm happen what happened. I'm really am. We've got some tough volleyball ahead of us and we're looking forward to the challenge."

Mastandrea said it felt "weird" coaching against Balmer, who played on his first club volleyball team at Club Elite.

Under second-year coach Balmer, a former assistant, the Hornets accomplished a huge goal by winning their first West Suburban Gold title since 2013. They captured the winner-take-all Oct. 16 title showdown at Downers Grove South, the four-time defending champions, in two sets.

"(Glenbard West is) a really good team. I feel like we had to fight really hard to beat them and I think we tried our hardest," Mihalkanin said.

"We've had a lot of hard matches but that one was definitely hard. We just kept that mentality of playing like it was our last game and really trying hard and going for every single ball and it definitely paid off. We definitely tried our hardest and we shouldn't be disappointed."