Girls volleyball: Glenbard South hangs tough with Nazareth

Glenbard South wanted a challenge and got one Thursday night.

The Raiders almost gave as good as they got.

Senior Lauren Sweeton led all girls volleyball players with 10 kills and sophomore Brittany Miller spiked 8 kills as the visiting Raiders played tough before falling to Nazareth 25-20, 25-19 in LaGrange Park.

The host Roadrunners (20-5) are considered a top contender for the Class 3A title and are the top seed at the St. Ignatius sectional. The Raiders could face Carmel, the No. 1 seed at the Vernon Hills sectional, if they win their first playoff match.

"(Nazareth) is on the schedule for a reason," Glenbard South coach Chad Grant said. "We want to challenge ourselves heading into the postseason and this is a good team to set the bar.

"Obviously, they are one of the best teams in 3A and we want to see where we stack up against those teams."

The Raiders (15-14) stacked up pretty well, though they couldn't match Nazareth's depth. The Roadrunners started an all-senior lineup for their senior night and used four setters but didn't miss a beat.

Nazareth setter Ella Sandt, a St. Mary's recruit, displayed the kind of versatility the Raiders could not match, dishing 9 assists to go with 9 kills. Ally Surowiec added 7 kills and 3 aces, 1 of which came in between 2 Sandt kills during a 4-0 run in the second set after the Raiders had clawed within 20-18.

"We just didn't give up," Sweeton said. "We obviously made a few mistakes here and there, but I think we played really hard. We just have to keep the mental game up and I think that's what we did."

Indeed, the Raiders are feeling good about themselves. Despite the loss they have won nine of their last 12 matches and relished the chance to take a shot at the Roadrunners.

"We were so excited," Sweeton said. "It was like a challenge match. It's good to play before playoffs. They're good competition."

So were the Raiders. They were within 2 points late in each set before Nazareth pulled away. Grant liked what he saw from his players, especially in the second set when they trailed by as many as 8 points.

"We got in a couple ruts and that's probably the difference in the game, but we had a lot of very good passes, too," Grant said. "They were cheating over on Lauren, so we got our middles involved at the end a little bit more than normal. That's something that we need to do to be a little bit more balanced."