Girls volleyball: Schaumburg gets past Rolling Meadows in regional opener

Molly Greenberg has spent a lot of her Friday nights this fall at Schaumburg football games playing the drums for the school's marching band.

The rest of the time, she was pounding on volleyballs.

For instance, the Saxons' 5-foot-11 senior middle had 2 kills and 2 blocks to help her team stay alive in the Class 4A Rolling Meadows regional.

Less than a week after stopping the host and No. 15 seeded Mustangs 25-19, 25-14 in a Mid-Suburban League crossover, the Saxons were drumming to the same beat in Monday's play-in match.

This time, it was a 26-24, 25-14 triumph that put No. 17 seed Schaumburg (8-27-1) into Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Loyola (28-7).

"I think it was just the confidence from last week when we played them that pushed us over the edge," said Greenberg, a National Honor Society student who also plays water polo in the spring.

"Now we have to push as hard as we can (against Loyola). We know we can play well together as a team. We just have to show that on the court."

The Saxons showed they were up to the task on Monday as senior setter Alina Peterson smartly picked out her targets and collected 18 assists, with eight going to junior Jessie Sariev.

Greenberg's sister Abbie, a sophomore, put down 4 kills (and 3 blocks) while Hannah Hrvat added 3 kills and Grace Zinchuk two.

"I think the key for both teams tonight was serve receive and I think we slightly out serve received them," said Schaumburg coach Tim Murphy. "We got a couple of lucky bounces and it landed our way."

Set 1 was close all the way and didn't go into the books until a couple of balls landed on the floor by the Greenberg sisters.

Sariev lined a crosscourt shot that just fell safely inside the line to tie the set at 24.

She then went to the service line and got a kill from Abbie Greenberg and a block by Molly to end the set.

Set 2 wasn't as close. The Saxons raced ahead 6-1 after three consecutive points from Sariev, including an ace and a block by Molly Greenberg and a kill by Hrvat.

Ashlyn Ryan's kill got Meadows to within 16-11 but Schaumburg went on a 9-3 run to end the match.

"We came out ready to play in the second set," Molly Greenberg added. "We knew they'd be pushing harder at us so we had to come back even harder at them."

Abbie Greenberg and senior Maddie Cosman led the back row with 8 digs apiece while Peterson had five.

"Everyone on the court pretty much did their job," Muphy said. "We modified a couple of things and they were able to take that advice in the middle of the match and change our game plan.

"That's something you like to see from a younger team that maybe hasn't done that all season. But we started learning and adjusting as the season went on."

Ryan led the Mustangs (9-27) with 11 kills while Patrycja Winnicki added six in the offense set by Erin Behls (21 assists). Bianca Madey and Nicole Dimova each had 2 kills and Colleen Cox added one.

Sophia Salemi and Ryan each had 7 digs while Winnicki added six.

"We had a really challenging season and we told the girls they kind of had two paths they could take," said Meadows coach Katie Stensland. "They could give up and break apart as a team or come together and keep fighting. They chose to come together, keep fighting and pushing, and I could not be any prouder of them.

"They stayed positive to the end. They tried their best at every practice and coming into every game. Unfortunately the outcome didn't always happen the way we wanted but the girls really did fight and stayed together as a team."

Murphy's Saxons will come in with no pressure in Tuesday's semifinal.

"We get the chance to shock the world," he said. "We have nothing to lose so we'll play as hard as we can. These are the fun matches where you can just go out and play with no pressure on you. We're supposed to lose so we're excited for the opportunity."