Girls volleyball: Willowbrook's rally keeps dream season alive
Katie Linnig clutched the prized sectional plaque in her arms, waiting for pictures to be taken amid a wild Willowbrook celebration.
This was a moment worth capturing.
When Linnig, Willowbrook's senior setter, dropped in a dump shot in a seam in Wheaton Warrenville South's defense, it secured history. And added another chapter to an extraordinary season.
The Warriors, a program with no postseason hardware since 1978 when regionals were called districts, won their first 30 matches this fall. The unforgettable run continued Wednesday as Willowbrook rallied for a dramatic 19-25, 25-21, 27-25 win over Wheaton Warrenville South at the Class 4A Bartlett sectional final.
"It's like a dream come true," said Linnig, one of four seniors. "It's crazy, for this program, in the past nobody looked at Willowbrook for volleyball. Now we're going to be known for what we have accomplished."
Willowbrook (37-1), which knocked out the last two state runners-up Downers Grove North and WW South in sectionals, moves on to face Mother McAuley on Friday at the supersectional at McAuley.
"I honestly can't believe it right now," said Willowbrook sophomore outside hitter Calli Kenny, who had nine kills. "But this is what we worked for and wanted all season."
Neither team led by more than four in a back-and-forth third set, after WW South's early 8-4 lead was quickly closed.
The Tigers (28-11) led 16-13, but Willowbrook came back with a 5-0 run that featured a tip kill by Hannah Kenny and Calli Kenny's crosscourt kill. WW South answered with a 4-0 run to go ahead 20-18 on a Lilly King kill off the block, but Willowbrook surged back ahead on back-to-back Calli Kenny aces.
The Warriors got to match point, 24-23, with a Natalie Cipriano crosscourt kill, but Darby Harris turned it away with a kill. Reese Kelly's kill for the Tigers tied it for the last time, 25-25.
"25-all in the third set. You can't ask for much more than than in a sectional championship," WW South coach Bill Schreier said.
Hope Reckamp again got Willowbrook to match point, putting down a kill off a WW South overpass, and Linnig followed with a clever setter shot that found a hole on the other side.
"I did it once at the beginning, too," Linnig said. "I knew that their two pins on the outside were kind of slow and I believed in myself that I could get it in."
Willowbrook coach Irene Mason believed in her girls, and believed that they could get it done in the pressure-cooker of a close match - even after a regular season that had few like Wednesday's.
"It was a roller coaster all over the place tonight, but I knew it would be like that," Mason said. "My girls showed that they could rise to the level of play, despite the strength of some of our earlier-season schedule. With the skill set these girls have, I wasn't concerned.
Calli Kenny wasn't too concerned, either, after Willowbrook dropped the first set.
Her younger sister Hannah, who also had nine kills, came alive to start the second with three of her nine kills and a 6-1 lead that eventually ballooned to 9-1.
"Before the game, we said we didn't come this far to lose," Calli Kenny said. "We never gave up, we never doubted ourselves. We knew we would come out on top."
WW South freshman Lauren Coyne, in defeat, was sensational with 15 kills - seven coming in the third set.
"Freshman in a pressure situation, you never know, it's a mixed bag what you're going to get," Schreier said. "We've had times this season where she's been good, we've had times where she's been all right and we've had times where it's holy cow. I tell you right now, she kept us in it and she brought us back in the second set and it was nice to see something like that."