Girls volleyball: Woodland overpowered by Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran in regional final

DWIGHT – The Woodland Warriors overcame more than their fair share of injuries and adversities on their way to a 23-win, conference championship season.

They could not, though, overcome hard-hitting Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran in Thursday’s championship match of the Class 1A Dwight Regional.

Led by an overpowering net attack and aggressive serving, the Cissna Park co-op never let Woodland get its game going in the Timberwolves’ 25-12, 25-15 victory over the Warriors at Kresl Gymansium. Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran advances to next week’s Woodland Sectional, opening Monday against Morgan Park Academy.

Woodland’s season ends with a record of 23-9.

“We have battled a ton of ups and downs throughout the season,” Woodland coach Michelle Pitte said. “But when I look back, I’m not just going to focus on this season. I look back to [our seniors’] freshman year and how far they’ve come, and this group of girls is amazing.

“As far as tonight goes, we knew it was going to be tough, we knew it was going to be a battle. I think we played to the upmost we could possibly do. I can’t be down, I can’t be upset about anything that happened tonight because they left everything they had on that court.”

“We knew it was going to be tough, we knew it was going to be a battle. I think we played to the upmost we could possibly do. I can’t be down, I can’t be upset about anything that happened tonight because they left everything they had on that court.”

—  Michelle Pitte, Woodland girls volleyball coach

The Warriors trailed the entirety of the opening set, a Sophie Duis ace beginning the night’s proceedings. High-flying Timberwolves outside hitter Addison Lucht gave Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran its third point of the night with a thundering kill untouched to the Woodland side of the floor.

Both would prove to be harbingers of trouble for Woodland. Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran would go on to serve up 10 aces on the evening, while Lucht finished with a match-best 10 kills — most in the first set, all of them thundering — on a night the Timberwolves outkilled the Warriors 23-11 with five stuff blocks to Woodland’s one.

In short, the Timberwolves’ attack was too much for the Warriors to handle.

Woodland did come out the second set and play Cissna Park/Christ Lutheran tougher rally-to-rally, point-to-point, but it didn’t translate to a big difference on the scoreboard. The Warriors tied things at 5-5 on a Malayna Pitte kill and again at 7-7 on a Timberwolves service error, but a sudden seven-point service run from Josie Neukomm — which included two Brooklyn Stadeli kills plus a kill and block courtesy of Duis — allowed the eventual regional champion to gap Woodland again and pull away to the title.

“We have, recently, had to lose the first [set] to figure out what we have to do for the second and third ones,” Michelle Pitte said. “I feel like once we got to that second [set] and were point-for-point, it started to get a little bit better. And then they just had some great serves.”

Senior setter Shae Simons was one of four Warriors to finish with four digs, adding all 10 of her team’s assists. Freshman middle Grace Longmire had four kills, while senior Malayna Pitte had three kills with a solo block plus both of her team’s aces. Ella Derossett added a pair of kills, with sophomore Jaylei Leininger, senior libero Kaiden Connor and senior Peyton Bradbury the others with four digs.

“The first set, I think we went in scared,” Bradbury said. “I don’t know why we would’ve been scared, but I think we just kind of were until we saw them. Then the second set, we’d seen them, and we kind of knew what we were doing. ...

“I would say we had a great season this year, and even though we lost a few girls [to injuries], I would say we still did amazing.”