Girls volleyball: Downers Grove North stops Glenbard East's big season

Downers Grove North freshman Gwendolyn Wolkow is not as well-known as some of her more experienced teammates.

But the 5-foot-11 middle hitter played a big role in ending one of the best seasons Glenbard East has ever had.

Wolkow spiked 6 kills and had 2 blocks Monday night to help the top-seeded Trojans beat fourth-seeded Glenbard East 25-16, 25-21 at the Class 4A York sectional semifinals.

Downers North (27-11) is in the sectional final for the second straight year and will face second-seeded York (26-12) in Wednesday's championship match.

"I was kind of nervous in the beginning but was just (usual) nerves and everyone gets nervous," Wolkow said. "But I was just really excited to be out there and playing. It's just fun."

While Glenbard East (30-8) rightfully concentrated on trying to slow down St. Louis-bound senior Margaret Mahlke on the outside, Downers North had a different plan.

Junior setter Elizabeth Dunlap focused on getting Wolkow and her other middles going in order to relieve the pressure on the 6-1 Mahlke. Dunlap dished 23 assists among six players.

"It was really necessary to incorporate the middles in my decision-making because it opened up (things) for Margaret," Dunlap said. "It got (Glenbard East's) middles confused."

After Mahlke, who led all players with 11 kills, opened the match with a kill, Dunlap served the next three points. Wolkow spiked consecutive kills to give the Trojans a 10-4 lead, prompting the Rams to call a timeout.

"(Setting Wolkow) was really important because the other team's middles weren't necessarily as strong as Gwen, so they weren't used to really hard attacks," Dunlap said. "You could see that their defense was surprised, in my opinion."

Wolkow's adrenaline was pumping knowing that she would get her share of swings.

"That was the plan because we like to use our middles, and that can distract other teams," Wolkow said. "When we ran our middles, they were late to the outside blocks and they kept doing that after they set us. So it helped our outside hitters a lot."

Indeed, Mahlke and senior Jade Casper, who landed 7 kills, found more openings than usual. Casper had 4 kills late in the first set, which ended with a Wolkow kill.

Casper and Wolkow reversed their production in Game 2, with Wolkow getting 4 kills and Casper the clincher as the Trojans rallied from a 12-9 deficit.

Sarah Elliott had 8 kills and fellow senior Allison Hamaker added 6 kills for Glenbard East, but the rest of the Rams combined for only 1 other kill.

Madison Cuchran had 9 digs, while Mahlke and Casper added 6 and 5 digs, respectively, for Downers North, which beat York during the regular season and will attempt to win back-to-back sectional titles for the first time in school history.

"I love it," Dunlap said. "It's my favorite part of the season."