Girls volleyball: Rolling Meadows avenges loss to Buffalo Grove
Playing its final home match, Rolling Meadows' girls volleyball players made sure they will not forget it.
Instead they forgot about a two-set loss to Buffalo Grove earlier in the season and turned the tables on Tuesday night with a two-set win over the Bison.
The visitors fought off two match points to tie the second set at 24-24 on a kill by senior Abby Ferriss.
However, the resilient Mustangs, who trailed 8-1 to start the set, responded again with a kill from junior Linnea Fahnoe and a hitting error by the Bison to record the 25-14, 26-24 Mid-Suburban East triumph.
"We will always remember this last home match," said senior Bernie Goodwin, who had a big ace to give the Mustangs (9-17, 3-3) a 21-20 lead in the second set. "We lost to them the first time (25-21, 25-21) so I think we've just progressed as a team, working together and picking each other up on the court."
The energy was there from start to finish in Set 1 as the hosts pulled ahead 11-5, thanks to 4 straight service points from Goodwin (including an ace) and kills from senior Jessica McShane and junior Jamie Vassos.
An ace by freshman Lucy Pufundt made it 20-10 and McShane finished off the set with 3 straight points, including 2 aces and a kill by senior Eylee Corcoran off a quick set from Maddie Zera.
"I felt we'd have a chance this time against Buffalo Grove because the girls have been working really hard in the gym and pushing themselves," said Mustangs coach Katie Nickle. "I really felt we had developed after playing in some pretty tough tournaments where we faced good teams which definitely helped us step up our game. They've figured out how to work together and we're using almost everyone on the roster which is a huge thing."
Four straight service points, including an ace, by Gracy Szewe gave BG a 5-0 lead in Set 2, and it was extended to 8-1 on back-to-back aces by Ferriss.
Nickle followed with a timeout and a wake-up call for the Mustangs.
Trailing 13-5, junior Jasmine Nitu served 10 straight service points (including 3 aces and back-to-back kills by Nicole Dimova) to give RM a 15-13 lead.
"She (Nickle) told us (in the timeout) we just needed to pick it up and get our energy back like we had in the first set," Goodwin said.
"We talked about playing consistently and having the energy we had in Game 1," Nickel said. "We lost that a little in Game 2 and then Jasmine was kind of the sparkplug who reignited us. Everyone fed off that. Maddie (Zera) and Charlotte (Errico) had a couple of big blocks in Jasmine's run and we definitely kept the momentum and excitement going the rest of the match."
The second set was tied at 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 24 before the Mustangs celebrated the win.
"This was fun," Goodwin added. "It's crazy, this is our last home match but we still have a couple of weeks left so hopefully we'll keep this up the rest of the way."
The Bison (8-14, 4-2) welcome MSL East leader Hersey on Thursday.
"We showed up flat in the first set," said BG coach Matt Priban. "We didn't show up with much energy or heart. We tried to get it going in the second set. But then the same things, a lot of unforced errors on our side. We gave up too many points, We've got to clean it up and push forward and get ready for our next match on Thursday."