Even the Joliet Central girls volleyball team themselves will admit, it hasn’t been the season they were hoping for. After starting out 5-2, they lost 18 straight, 17 of those defeats being sweeps.

Throughout that run, the seven seniors carrying this squad never wavered. They continued to show up and show out for their school, and the result was winning three of six entering Monday night’s playoff game against East Aurora.

Then, they made it four wins in 10 days.

Behind a dominant night from outside hitter Delany Moran, the Steelmen put forth a fantastic effort against East Aurora in the Oswego East Regional quarterfinals. The result was a 25-17, 25-18 sweep for the Steelmen and a postseason victory.

Joliet Central (9-23) had won two games at the Bradley-Bourbonnais tournament against Kankakee and Momence on October 18. They beat IMSA two days later before dropping contests to Plainfield Central and Oswego. The Steelmen were given the 16th seed in the Joliet West Sectional while East Aurora was the 17 seed.

The difference may have been small in seeding, but the difference in play between the two was massive. The effort was there for the Tomcats, but the Steelmen seemed to have an answer throughout the night.

“I thought our offense played really well tonight,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “Our middles Cali (Judd) and Makinsey (Whitmore) did a really good job offensively and defensively. Delany had a really nice game on the outside. Camryn Brown did a really nice job on defense despite being sick, but we need to pick up serve-receive before tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow” being the regional semifinal game against top-seeded Joliet West on Tuesday. That game will be a massive challenge, but Monday, the team was just happy to have a postseason win. They were also happy to get to play even one more day, no matter how the game goes.

“It’s nice to know that I get to keep playing with the girls around me,” outside hitter Makinsey Whitmore said. “The connection we have is insane. Even when we lose there are still smiles on our faces and we’re still upbeat. We never give up as a team.”

They never gave up Tuesday, even after the two teams exchanged points to a 6-6 draw in the first set. A 6-2 run for the Steelmen forced the Tomcats into a timeout and they worked Joliet Central into another exchange of points from there. However, the deficit was large enough and the pace by Central was great enough that they earned the 25-17 win.

Joliet Central had to battle early in the second set, falling behind 4-2 before going on a 7-2 run. Two quick points by the Tomcats pulled them back within one, but Whitmore’s intensity pushed a 7-1 runn to make it 16-9.

East Aurora began to narrow it from there, but Moran got the game-clinching kill to close it out.

“Picking up the wins late in the season feels really good,” Moran said. “It gives us the confidence we need to find wins as we go on. ...We just trust each other and we just need to remember that we’ve won games before and we can keep doing that.”

The game against Joliet West will tip-off at 6 p.m. at Oswego East on Tuesday. The winner will take on the winner of Oswego East-Yorkville on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the regional championship.