No. 1 seed WW South rolls past Downers Grove South
Wheaton Warrenville South outside hitter Zayna Meyer often frustrates volleyball opponents with her kills.
The 6-foot-1 junior also tries to be a threat from the service line.
"We practice serving every day and (WW South coach Bill Schreier) walks us through what to do, where we're supposed to serve and hit the seams," Meyer said. "I've just been practicing and trying to apply it to games."
On Monday Meyer's early 10-point streak set the tone in the top-seeded Tigers' 25-9, 25-15 victory over No. 4 Downers Grove South in the semifinals of the Class 4A Glenbard West sectional.
The Tigers (30-8) play for the sectional title at 6 p.m. Wednesday against No. 3 Downers Grove North (22-16), a 25-23, 25-21 winner over No. 3 York (29-8) to avenge a regular-season three-set defeat.
Meyer's serving streak began with her first of two back-row kills and included an ace to build an 18-3 lead.
"Having that service run, it's very exciting because it pumps the team up a lot and we really need that," Meyer said. "It gets all of our energy and momentum going to carry through to the second set."
Meyer also was an offensive force with 10 kills, while Lizzie Chiesa had 8 and Annika Barron and Kaileigh Ammons 5 each. Sarah Burau had 18 assists and libero Darby Harris 9 digs.
The Tigers scored 32 of their 50 points while serving behind 7 aces with 2 errors.
"Something we've really been working on all season is our ability to try and score points from the service line," Schreier said.
"The more frequently we can get the opponent out of system, ultimately the better off we know we're going to be. We were able to get after it right away and score points."
Downers South had two 1-point leads in the second set, but then Chiesa's sideout kill was followed by Barron's 9-point serving run for a 14-5 advantage.
"Our passing was off from the very beginning but also give it to Wheaton Warrenville South that they had awesome serving," Downers South coach Kristina Conrad said. "We told our girls after our loss that 100 times out of 100 we would take the same 15 girls. They're awesome kids, they work hard, they're kind to each other and others."
Behind 11 seniors, the Tigers are trying to join the 2002 Class AA fourth-place team as their only sectional champions.
"This is just like a record-breaking season for us and just thinking we have sectionals on Wednesday just blows my mind that we're this far," Burau said. "The past two seasons we've lost in the regional championship and it's been heartbreaking, but it was really a big motivator for the seniors this year to not get let down again."
The Mustangs won their first regional since 2008 and third West Suburban Gold title in the past four years. They only lose four seniors, but that includes four-year starting setter Addison Karmik, who will play at Wisconsin-Green Bay, and middles Rose Dumford and Jess Juerke, who each had 3 kills Monday.
"I think we didn't really come out the way we expected to or wanted to. It kind of felt like we restarted again, like the beginning of the season," Karmik said. "We were a little nervous, but overall I'm so proud of what we did this season."