Girls Volleyball: Taylor French, Plainfield East ride momentum of key rally past Oswego in SPC quarterfinal

OSWEGO – Haley Zeck and Destiny Grey tagged hands in a postgame talk, a figurative passing of the torch.

The two girls have made a great connection for Oswego throughout this abbreviated season. They’re two of the biggest reasons for the Panthers’ record year.

Now Zeck, Oswego’s senior setter, is hopeful that Grey, a junior outside hitter, can take the program to even greater heights next year.

“We left this program better than we found it,” Zeck said. “We’ve never in the past years that our AD has been here had a volleyball team finish second in conference. We set history starting the season 7-0. I’m very proud. I’m passing it onto her.”

Oswego’s season ended a few days earlier than the girls would have liked. Seventh-seeded Plainfield East knocked off second-seeded Oswego 25-23, 25-16 in Wednesday’s quarterfinal of the Southwest Prairie Conference tournament.

But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of what Oswego (10-5) generated the last month or so on the volleyball court. Oswego started the season 7-0, the best start in program history. Even when they were down big 24-12 in the second set, the Panthers rattled off four straight points to prolong the match.

“Every single day we came to the gym ready to play,” Grey said. “We put our heart into this.”

As is often the case in volleyball matches, momentum Wednesday turned on a dime with one point.

Oswego led 22-19 late in the first set, and held a 22-20 advantage until Plainfield East (8-3) weathered a marathon rally with multiple big plays on both sides.

Plainfield East junior outside hitter Taylor French, seemingly energized by the point, dropped in a tip to tie it 22-22, then drove two hard-hit balls from the left pin deep into the Oswego side to get the Bengals to set point, 24-22.

“It gets us really excited, once we get a big play going like that,” French said. “That really got us going toward the end and pushed us to the end of the game.”

French kept the momentum going, drilling a crosscourt kill for set point and then serving three aces during a long service run at the start of the second set for an 8-3 Plainfield East lead.

“That is what we have seen all season, is we get one awesome play and then we feed off that and it pushes us and we’re unstoppable,” said Bengals coach Rachel Cialoni, whose team turned the tables on an earlier loss to Oswego this season. “Taylor is really an asset to this program. We would not be playing here without her.”

On the opposite side, Oswego could reference back to the pivotal long rally in the first set as a turning point in the match.

“It felt like an eternity,” Zeck said. “We are a very emotional team, we ride on emotions. If our emotions are happy and high, we’re a great team and nobody can stop us. Once we get it into our heads, though, any team can take advantage of it and it’s pretty obvious that that is a thing to work on.”

“I thought we had it in the bag,” Grey said. “We definitely need to work on our energy, stay happy.”

A Grey kill gave Oswego its biggest lead in the first set, 18-14. The Panthers were still within 13-8 in the second after a Kennedy Hugunin kill on a slide play, but from there Plainfield East gained separation with a 5-1 run.

“They’re a good team. They found all the open shots,” Zeck said. “I hope they do well the rest of the tournament.”