Plainfield North’s postseason run came to an end on Wednesday with a 26-24, 25-22 loss to Metea Valley in the championship match of the Class 4A Oswego Sectional.
“It means the world,” Metea Valley coach Dave Macdonald said. “It’s still a new school. I think we’re 12 or 13 years in. Being in a volleyball-rich area, it’s fantastic.”
The top-seeded Mustangs (37-2), who avenged one of only two regular-season losses, will face Andrew, a straight-sets winner over Bolingbrook, on Friday in Plainfield.
The second-seeded Tigers closed out their season at 32-7.
Plainfield North libero Jackie Gladstein had an ace as part of a six-point service run to open the match.
Metea Valley gradually chipped away at the Tigers’ early cushion.
In what proved to be a defining storyline of the match, Metea Valley never held a lead greater than two points until the 87th point of the night.
The match was the finale for Plainfield North 6-foot-4 outside Ella Wrobel.
A Wisconsin recruit, Wrobel was a dominant force, especially in the second set.
Wrobel augmented her match-high 13 kills with a pair of aces.
Macdonald said the neutralization of Wrobel and highly regarded sophomore setter Ella Strausberger was indispensable to the Mustangs’ victory.
“We came out super pumped up,” Wrobel said. “[The Mustangs] came back and scored points on us. We didn’t lose our momentum. It was an even battle.”