Girls volleyball: Joliet West bests Sandburg for first sectional title in program history

LOCKPORT– Joliet West won its first girls volleyball sectional title Wednesday night, beating Sandburg 25-22, 26-24 in the Class 4A Lockport Sectional.

The Tigers (30-10) will face Mother McAuley on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the 4A Blue Island Eisenhower Super-Sectional.

“It’s just amazing,” Tigers’ first-year coach Christopher Lincoln said. “Three weeks ago, we would have hoped for it, but we didn’t know how good we would be moving forward. The amount of growth from day one until today is just incredible.

“The way they play for each other, they truly are a great representation of this school. They’re fighters.”

Junior outside hitter Ava Grevengoed echoed those sentiments.

“I think it’s amazing. We played so hard. I’m so glad that this happened. I didn’t know if we could do it, but we did it,” she said.

Joliet West started slow, falling behind 3-0 at the start of the first set. Then the Tigers ran off six straight points to take a 6-3 lead. The game then settled into the type of battle expected in a sectional final.

The Tigers managed to grab an 18-11 lead thanks to a serving ace by libero Olivia Baxter, but the Eagles responded by going on a 9-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. Joliet West finished the game with a 6-2 flourish led by two kills from junior outside hitter Gabrielle Piazza.

Grevengoed added nine kills in the first-set win.

“They’re monsters” Lincoln said of Grevengoed and Piazza. “I said coming in they would be our difference-makers. It’s intense when they put the ball down. They’re so fun to watch. ...

“[Sandburg has] an amazing defense. They’re very scrappy. We anticipated that. That’s how they frustrated Lincoln-Way East on Monday.”

The second set saw Joliet West grab a 4-3 lead and then push it out to 11-7. The Eagles fought back to tie it at 11-11 before the Tigers took it back out to 19-15 on a Sandburg hit that went out of bounds.

Sandburg rallied to tie it at 20-20 on a kill by Madison Duckhorn. The score was knotted again at 23-23 before Baxter delivered another service ace to put the Tigers ahead 24-23. Sandburg tied it at 24-24 before Joliet West scored the final two points to win it. Brooke Schwall had the winning kill for the Tigers.

Piazza had seven kills in the second set for Joliet West.

“Our defense picked up everything, and our offense was able to find the holes,” Piazza said. “They had a tough defense. We had to work on other shots than we were used to.

“Our defense was able to put the ball up, and my setter was able to give me a good shot. I was able to get up there and see the holes in the court,” she said.

Grevengoed led the Tigers with 13 kills. Piazza tallied 10 kills. Taylor Brenczewski had 10 assists and seven digs. Ashlyn Noon provided 13 assists. Baxter had 18 digs.

“I thought everyone was very committed to win, and it translated into our play,” Baxter said. “We sold out for every point, and I thought that helped us, especially in the second set when it got close.”