Girls volleyball: Warren brings its 'A' game, surprises Stevenson
At a pivotal moment in Wednesday night's North Suburban Conference girls volleyball match between Stevenson and host Warren, Warren senior setter Madison Wojdyla and Warren senior libero Daria Rodriguez nearly collided in the middle of the court.
One jumped to the side.
And the other danced, sort of.
But each Blue Devil somehow remained focused and recorded a dig during the second-set point, leading to a kill from Warren senior outside hitter Ruth Ziegler.
The hosts then won 3 of the next 4 points before closing out a 25-20, 25-22 upset of Stevenson in Gurnee.
All had earned the right to execute a few celebratory dance steps.
"We talked about what we needed to do in between the whistles," Blue Devils coach Yun Chen said. "That is, be ready - be ready to go after it and rely on your instincts."
Stevenson (16-4, 1-1 in the NSC) entered Wednesday's action ranked No. 6 in the Daily Herald rankings; Warren, now 12-4, 1-1, was No. 17.
"Huge, so huge," the 6-foot-3 Ziegler said of the triumph. "Our team came together. We had so much energy."
"Tonight," Wojdyla added, "was our chance to rebound from our loss (in straight sets) last week to Libertyville and show everybody what Warren volleyball is all about. We wanted this win, badly. I remember thinking, earlier today, 'We're going to win this.' "
Warren catapulted to a 6-0 lead in set 1, thanks mostly to Wojdyla's serves. She thwacked 2 of her match-high 4 aces in the run. Ziegler (8 kills, 2 aces) had opened the scoring with a pair of kills.
The Blue Devils later enjoyed comfy advantages of 16-6, 18-8 and 21-10 before Patriots senior outside hitter Brynn Smith (6 kills) popped for a kill that pared the gap to 23-16.
Stevenson, via an ace by junior hitter Ava Wysocki, secured its first lead of the night at 2-1 in the set 2. But Warren stunned the visitors again, this time with a monstrous 10-0 run, capped by a kill from junior outside hitter Lauren Schilz (3 kills).
The Pats got as close as 23-22 when senior OH Mija Jegers (match-high 12 kills, 8 digs 2 aces) struck her second ace.
"Everything, it seemed, was not really working for us," said Stevenson coach Tim Crow, whose squad played its 20th match in 24 days Tuesday. "We weren't aggressive, and we didn't serve well. We also overpassed.
"I was shocked that the sets scores were as close as they were. We have a great group of kids; they'll bounce back from this."
Wojdyla finished with 15 assists and 11 digs to go with her 4 aces.
"Madison plays with tenacity, always," Chen said. "She's been an awesome senior leader for us, and she has a great sense of humility. She does all she can to shine for us, but helping everybody else around her shine is more important to her."
Blue Devils junior OH Taylor Coombes contributed 3 kills and 5 digs; Rodriguez had 4 assists and 4 digs; senior middle Maggie Carruthers' kill upped Warren's second-set lead to 21-14 and prompted Crow to call timeout.
"I've known Tim for a while," Chen said. "His teams play hard. You're always worried about Stevenson, even if you win by, say, 21-10 in the first set, because Tim's teams are capable of turning it around in the second and winning by that same margin.
"It's never comfortable playing Stevenson," he added.
Stevenson senior setter Kyra Costabile lofted 15 assists, while freshman libero Ryler Bondad provided 7 digs.
Several Warren players planned to watch a volleyball match after Tuesday's big win.
"We're going to cheer for our freshman 'B' team," said Wojdyla, who, like her teammates, had displayed her 'A' game during the varsity contest.