Both Joliet Central and Plainfield Central took part in the Peg Bryan Invitational volleyball tournament at Joliet Central on Saturday, and both teams came away with plenty of positives.

Each team finished the tournament with a 2-1 record, with Joliet Central taking second to Oak Lawn in the eight-team event and Plainfield Central finishing third after beating Oak Forest in the third-place match. The tourney is named after Peg Bryan, a three-time cancer survivor and a Joliet Central/Township volleyball scorekeeper for nearly 20 years who lost her fight with the disease in 2012.

The two teams, who are Southwest Prairie Conference rivals as well, met in the semifinals after winning their first matches. Joliet Central came away with a 25-23, 11-25, 27-25 win to earn the right to play for the title.

In the semifinals, the Steelmen (5-3) fell behind 6-2 early in the first set, but rallied to take a 13-9 lead behind strong play from Delaney Moran, Mickelaynuh Wollenzien, Lexie Webb, and Lindsey Flood. Plainfield Central (2-7) answered with a 4-0 spurt of its own to tie it, and the set was tight the rest of the way. The Wildcats took a 23-21 lead, but Joliet Central got kills from Wollenzien, Cali Judd and Moran to claim the victory.

An impressive 10-point serving run by Plainfield Central’s Brooke Mouw, which included five aces, allowed the Wildcats to increase a 13-10 lead to 23-10 in the second set, and the set ended with a kill and a block by Jordan Siegmund.

In the decisive third set, neither team held more than a two-point advantage. Plainfield Central had a chance at match point leading 24-23, but a hitting error allowed Joliet Central to tie it. The Wildcats took a 25-24 lead on a kill by Mouw, but Moran answered with a back-row kill to tie it, Jasmin Gonzalez Guzman served an ace, and Moran delivered match point with another back-row kill.

“These girls don’t pout or give up when things don’t go their way,” Joliet Central coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I mean, we lost the second set to Plainfield Central 25-11, and came back and beat them in the third set.

“We have some girls in new roles this year, and they are starting to figure things out.”

In the title match, the Steelmen had trouble containing Oak Lawn hitter Maryam Hussein, who had 19 kills in a 25-17, 25-20 win.

Oak Lawn did not trail at all in the first set, but the Steelmen made it much tougher on them in the second. The set was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17 and 18 before the Spartans (10-2) got a kill by Hussein, an ace by Margaret Mitchell and a Joliet Central hitting error to move out to a 21-18 lead. Hussein also had two kills in the Spartans’ final four points, including match point.

“This is the best we have done in our own tournament in a long time,” O’Connell said. “It was great to get to the championship match and to do it by beating Plainfield Central, which is a conference team. We played well with our hitting and blocking and the defense picked things up. We still have some work to do, but the girls know they can compete.

“Delaney Moran is a four-year varsity player for us and she has been stepping up as a leader. Lexi Webb did a real nice job at setter and so did Lindsey Flood. Our communication on the court was good and that’s a big factor. This is a very fun group to coach and they are a very hard-working team.”

Plainfield Central had not won a match entering the tournament, so the 2-1 tourney record was a positive for the Wildcats.

“We’ll take winning two out of three,” Plainfield Central coach Robert Richardson IV said. “We have a lot of young players, so for them to get a couple of wins today should be a pretty good confidence boost.

“Brooke Mouw did a real good job for us serving all day and Abigail Barrios and Olivia Howard played well. We just have to keep working hard and get more consistent.”