Girls volleyball: Joliet West figures out energy issue in sectional win

OSWEGO – Last week, the Joliet West volleyball team had no problem finding energy as the Tigers hosted a Class 4A regional and the home faithful were in full force.

The bleachers in the West gym were full of loud fans and there were even cheerleaders in the stands, a rare sight at a volleyball match.

Monday night, Joliet West had to travel to Oswego for a sectional semifinal against Lincoln-Way West.

The sound was much different.

In fact, there was little sound right from the start. As the match went on, the fans began to pick up the volume, but it never reached the level that the friendly confines at West achieved.

“It was a little different,” West senior standout Ava Grevengoed said. “It felt like we didn’t have much energy, and there wasn’t much energy in the gym. Maybe we were used to playing on our home floor where the fans are loud, but we had to make our own energy.”

West coach Chris Lincoln called a timeout with his team trailing 18-16 in the first set, trying to get the Tigers’ mojo back. It worked, as a rejuvenated West team rallied from the deficit to win the opening set 25-23 over a Warriors team that had only three seniors on the roster and had set the school record for wins in a season.

Throughout the season, one constant on the West bench has been the sight of Tyrone, a stuffed tiger that has become the team’s mascot. Tyrone usually stands on all fours at the end of the West bench. Perhaps in an attempt to change things up Monday, someone placed Tyrone on his backside so it looked like he was sitting up.

The good fortune from Tyrone’s posture in the first set carried through to the end of the second. Joliet West rallied from an 18-14 deficit in the second set to come away with a 26-24 win and advance to Wednesday’s championship match against Lockport where the Tigers will try to win their second sectional title in school history and second in as many years.

“We just had to keep playing together,” Grevengoed said. “We try to keep our energy up and go on some runs, like three or four points at a time. This match was a lot of point-for-point and it was close the whole way until we got a couple of runs at the end.

“We have been in a ton of situations like this where we were in close matches, and we’ve been able to pull them out. I am proud of all of us for being able to finish in two sets, especially coming back from being down near the end of both of them.”

To try and combat the quietness of the crowd Wednesday, West is offering a fan bus for those students who either can’t or don’t want to make the drive to Oswego themselves.

For Lincoln, however, most of the cause of the close match was the team on the other side of the net.

“Lincoln-Way West is a good volleyball team,” he said. “They served very aggressively and got us out of system quite a bit. We were able to get it going at the end, but they pushed us.

“At this point of the season, a win is a win. We expected a tight match since they took us to three earlier in the season when we played them. We were able to make a few mistakes and still come back from them. Hopefully, we have that hiccup out of the way and we will be back to playing Tiger volleyball Wednesday.”