Girls volleyball: Prairie Ridge ousts Warren

Two inches.

That's all that separates the Prairie Ridge girls volleyball team from having five 6-footers in its starting lineup.

And that height has been hard for many opponents to measure up to this season.

"Our height really helps us," said Prairie Ridge middle blocker Samantha Lockwood, the team's tallest player at 6-foot-3. "A lot of our points come from blocks, and on offense, we always have a really big, fast offense that a lot of teams can't defend or put a block up against."

The other 6-footers in the Prairie Ridge starting lineup are 6-foot-1 outside hitter Olivia Annen and 6-foot outside hitter Hannah Baudin. Starting opposite hitter Trinity Sheridan and starting setter Jayden Otto are practically in the 6-foot club themselves, each standing 1 inch shy at 5-foot-11.

Prairie Ridge also has two reserves that are 5-foot-11 and two reserves that are 5-foot-10.

Warren had a hard time Monday night blocking the taller Wolves, not to mention hitting around the Wolves' big blocks, and that was a major reason Prairie Ridge was able to sweep Warren in Class 4A sectional semifinal action at Grayslake Central, 25-15, 25-14.

Top-seeded Prairie Ridge, which improves to 27-10, advances to Wednesday's sectional championship game (6 p.m.) and will face Crystal Lake Central, a winner over Stevenson in the second semifinal.

Warren, the No. 4 seed, ends its season at 30-8.

"They (Prairie Ridge) could get over our blocks and they could block us more than we could," said Warren outside hitter Ella White, who is 5-foot-11 herself and one of the taller players on her team. "They are a really good blocking team. It's hard to get around them."

Lockwood topped Prairie Ridge with 9 kills while Baudin and 5-foot-11 reserve Madeline McGuire each had 6 kills.

Otto had 24 assists and 5-foot-6 libero Olivia Jost, the only player in the starting lineup who is not close to membership in the 6-foot club, had a team-high 10 digs.

"The height helps a lot and I like the tempo of our offense and that is a key to our success," Prairie Ridge coach Stefanie Otto said. "We just really work hard to play together. We just really seem to enjoy playing together."

The same could be said for Warren this season.

The Blue Devils had one of their most successful seasons in program history, recording the third 30-win season of head coach Julie Filippo's 15-year tenure.

Warren also won a regional this season and placed third in the North Suburban Conference.

"We had an outstanding season, we placed in all of our tournaments, we reached all of our goals," Fillippo said. "This would have been a good one to get had we played a little harder, but it was our defense. Our defense was off. All of them (from Prairie Ridge) were hitting hard and that was tough to defend. Usually, we're a better defensive team.

"And (on offense), they put up big blocks and we didn't hit around them. (Prairie Ridge) played extremely well."

Outside hitters Dana Lundveit and White topped Warren with 3 kills each while setters Abby Berkowicz and Kayla Klemz each had 3 assists. Amanda Howe had a team-high 7 digs.