Girls volleyball: Fenton notches Upstate Eight win at Elgin
While Elgin and Fenton haven't been on the winning side often in this shortened girls volleyball season, both coaches like what they have seen and what the future could bring.
The Bison won for the second time this season Tuesday at Elgin's Chesbrough Field House, 25-11, 25-21, keeping the Maroons winless.
Freshman outside Jordan Brown, sophomore middle Joanna Kukielko and juniors Hailey Miller and Elizabeth Aguirre were in the middle of many of Fenton's best points, bringing a smile to coach Kelly Torres.
"The future is bright," Torres said. "A lot of young players. I think we are going to be really good soon."
Torres got Fenton (2-5 overall, 2-5 in the Upstate Eight) off to a quick start, serving the first eight points of the match.
Four of those points came on aces, and Kukielko and Aguirre helped with kills.
Fenton served 14 aces in the match.
"It's something we really practice and we really hope when we practice it well we can show it in the game," Fenton senior right side Brianna Tellez said. "I feel like that's what we did today. A lot of aggressive serves."
Elgin gave Fenton a much better battle in the second set. Torres took an early timeout after the Bison lost a couple points on poor communication, with their players not knowing who would take the ball and instead letting it drop for an Elgin point.
The Maroons also had a couple good service runs behind 2 aces by Ava Blalark and another from Taylor Butler. Down 20-16, Elgin got as close as 21-20 before a costly service error halted its momentum.
"That's part of our learning experience is knowing what's in our control," Elgin coach Amy Zapata said. "We can't control if someone has a 6-foot person across the net from us. But we can control our side. Are we controlling our passes? Are we getting our serves in?"
That passing is coming around from the start of the season, Zapata said. The Maroons have been learning on the fly after six would-be returners moved, including three setters.
That leaves a young team for Zapata to mold.
"The pieces are starting to come together," Zapata said. "Half the team are freshmen and sophomores. I'm excited about the potential that's coming. Every single game progress has been made. I'm happy with the way they are meshing and having fun still. It's a growth process."
Kukielko paced both teams with 4 kills.
"This is the nicest group of girls," Torres said. "They aren't necessarily primarily volleyball players, but they love the sport. A lot of them are softball first. I'm so happy we got a chance to have a season because to miss out on a senior year with these girls I've coached so long would have been rough."