Lockport, Joliet West headed to regional final

JOLIET – When any state tournament begins, it’s always an advantage to play at home, and Joliet West’s volleyball team had that opportunity Tuesday night as the eighth-seeded Tigers played ninth-seeded Shepard in the Class 4A Joliet West Regional semifinals.

Last Thursday in their final home game, Tigers coach Al Mart was concerned about how his team reacted in front of the big crowd in a loss to Plainfield Central.

That was not a problem Tuesday as Joliet West beat Shepard, 25-13, 22-25, 25-12, to advance to the regional finals against Lockport at 6 p.m. Thursday.

West (18-18) dominated the first set, but it was an early run that set the tone. The Tigers trailed, 2-1, and after a point to tie it at 2 sophomore Ava Grevengoed served nine straight points, including two aces, and Shepard never got closer than six points.

“We played together tonight. We played for fun, and everything came together,” Grevengoed said. “Tonight we wanted to win, and we had that fire. I love hitting the ball the best, but when you get on a roll serving consecutive points like tonight you can really feel the energy, and I feel like I’m really helping the team.”

The second set was close the entire way, as West had their final lead at 16-15, but Shepard scored four of the next five points to take control.

The decisive third set saw five ties in the first seven points until West went on a roll and dominated much like in the first set.

“We eliminated the unforced errors and played great team defense,” Mart said. “I told them that you can’t let this team [Shepard] hang around, they are talented and had 24 wins on the season. That second set we didn’t play as well, but it was still close. After all those ties in the third set we got more aggressive, got the lead and it relaxed us.

I give all the credit to this team, they really played well tonight and really wanted the win.”

In the other semifinal match, No. 1 seed Lockport had no trouble defeating 16th seed Bloom, 25-5, 25-11. It was the Porters 24th consecutive victory after starting the season 6-6 and their 30th win of the season.

The Porters dominated the first set, however, some mistakes early in the second set left the Porters ahead only 11-8, but they righted the ship and scored 14 of the final 17 points.

“We just have to approach every match in a business-like manner, it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “We just have to go out and be ourselves, sometimes it tough in matches like this, and we got a little sloppy in the second set, but it’s just one at a time at this point. Everyone starts the tournament 0-0, so records, streaks or whatever it is, doesn’t matter.”

Senior Christian Bouie, a middle hitter for the Porters echoed much of the same.

“It’s all about our mentality when we step on the floor, Bouie said. “We have to have that fire and drive every time we play because it’s competition and in this sport, just like any other, anything can happen.

“It’s been an amazing year, and it feels so good playing with all my teammates, and you have to relish every moment because you never know when it will be over.”