By Phil Brozynski

Immaculate Conception’s Meg Kowieski admitted she had no idea where Serena was. But the Knights’ will find out Thursday when they travel to Serena for the Class 1A sectional.

The four-class volleyball system was made for schools like Immaculate Conception. The Knights have been to Bloomington only twice since their last state title in 1984, fnishing third in 1989 and losing their first match in 1993. Under the old two-class, pre-multiplier format, IC's path was often blocked by its conference rivals.

But with the format change and with Kowieski the only senior on the roster, the Knights could be a contender for the next two years. Immaculate Conception’s leading attacker with nine kills in the regional final Thursday against Hinckley-Big Rock, Danielle Remy, is a junior. So is Mary Kate Manion, who added five kills against Hinckley-Big Rock.

The Knights also have a trio of sophomores who played big roles in the Hinckley-Big Rock match. Setter Abby West had 15 assists and three kills, Maggie Ryan chipped in three kills and Kelly Mulligan came off the bench to serve three aces.

Defensively, junior libero Catherine Guido had 17 digs and junior Mary Cheng added 11 digs.

Another area team with a ton of underclass talent was eliminated from the Class 4A tournament Saturday. But with sophomore Kylee Baker leading the way, Plainfield North will be heard from during the next two years.

Baker had eight kills in the Tigers’ 25-17, 25-22 loss to Naperville Central Saturday at Bolingbrook. Setter Kiersten O’Leary, a junior, had 25 assists. Junior opposite Jessica Guerrieri added four kills and junior middle Arianna Villaruba added two kills.

Plainfield North also hopes to have a healthy Sarah Scott back next year. Scott, a sophomore, was bothered by a back injury and missed most of the second half of the season.

“I would have liked to have had her, but I didn’t want to risk her health,” Plainfield North coach Kerri McCastland said. “This is an important season for her in club. A lot of people will be looking at her.”

McCastland said that the key to Plainfield North’s future is upgrading its schedule and getting invitations to some of the better area tournaments.

“It’s tough when you don’t play at that level (the Napervilles and the Downers) all season,” she said. “But we’re just a two-year-old program. It was guts to the wall (against Naperville Central). As a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”

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Allison McGlaughlin of downstate Morton (Ill.) High School recently broke the Illinois High School Association’s all-time career kill record.

McGlaughlin set the new mark when she collected 36 kills in a match on October 18. McGlaughlin now has 1,670 career kills. The previous record was held by Megan O’Connell of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, who had 1,662 from 1995-98. The Morton standout also now has 647 kills for the season, which is second all-time to Hinsdale South’s Amy Pauly, who is credited by the IHSA with 717 kills in 2003.

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By Phil Brozynski

Now that the state tournament has arrived, it’s time to play 10 questions (give or take a few).

1. Can the red-hot Redhawks of Naperville Central, arguably the state’s best big tournament team over the last month, survive the toughest sectional in the state and win their second state title in three years? Or will they be knocked off by Naperville North or Downers Grove South or Benet?

2. Has Crystal Lake Central’s weak tournament schedule adequately prepared the Tigers for an assault on the Class 3A title? Or will the perfect season become nothing more than a memory?

3. How far can Kelly Murphy carry Joliet Catholic? Or will injuries to Annemarie Hickey and Brianna Fleener make the Angels susceptible to upset either in the Crete-Monee sectional or at the St. Francis supersectional?

4. Can Immaculate Conception translate its outstanding season outside the brutal Suburban Catholic Conference (18-2 in non-league matches) into its first state title since beating Stewardson-Strasburg in 1984?

5. Will Rebecca Kamp and Chicago Christian avoid the upset bug in the Class 2A tournament, unlike last year when the top-seeded Knights were taken down by Timothy Christian in the regional finals?

6. Will Wheaton Warrenville South take advantage of a clearly easier road to the state finals? Or will the Tigers revisit their late-season tournament struggles?

7. Can St. Francis figure out a way to defeat Rosary? Or will the defending state champions have to watch their own supersectional from the cheap seats?

8. Who will emerge from the Andrew supersectional? Mother McAuley? Marist? Sandburg? Stagg?

9. Will New Trier end its 31-year winless streak in the state finals?

10. Will anybody still be awake by the time the Class 4A tournament finals on November 10 in Bloomington are completed sometime around 11:00 p.m.? And will the Illinois High School Association ever find some new music for the state trophy presentations?

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By Phil Brozynski

Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier got a glimpse into the future at the 16th annual Autumnfest Volleyball Tournament Saturday at Glenbard East, and what he saw wasn’t half-bad.

The Tigers (29-4) finished third – a considerable improvement over their disappointing sixth-place finish at the Mizuno Cup which included losses to Neuqua Valley and Joliet Catholic.

WW South lost to eventual champion Naperville Central 26-28, 25-23, 25-18 in the semifinals and beat Rockton Hononegah and 6-5 Wisconsin recruit Elle Ohlander 22-25, 25-17, 25-18 in the third-place match.

Mollie Kolosky and Beeca Zlabis each had 11 kills in the Hononegah win.

“We still have a long way to go,” Schreier said. “I liked the way we rebounded after a tough match (in the semifinals). We were still a little down in game one, but we were competitive. It’s something we can build off.”

WW South and Hononegah (23-6) could meet later this season in the DeKalb Class 4A supersectional.

“I’d love another shot at them,” Schreier said. “I’d love another shot at Naperville Central.”

If WW South and Naperville Central were to meet again, it would be in the Class 4A championship game in Bloomington.

Schreier was not the only coach who was pleased with his team’s performance at Glenbard East. Benet coach Brad Baker watched as his team bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to Naperville Central to beat Normal Community (23-7) and Mother McAuley (22-7).

Five-foot-9 junior outside hitter Ariana Mankus led Benet (29-3) with 13 kills against Mother McAuley and 5-10 junior outside Natalie Patzin added nine kills.

“It was a good day,” Baker said.

Making a rare appearance in the Chicago area was perennial downstate small school power Mt. Pulaski (16-12), which defeated Willowbrook in pool play and Prairie Ridge 25-15, 25-21 in the 15th-place match at Autumnfest.

The Hilltoppers have only three seniors on their 15-player rostery. Mt. Pulaski is seeded second in sub-sectional A of the 26-team Danville Schlarman sectional behind Decatur Lutheran (21-2).

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By Phil Brozynski

Sometimes shorter is better.

Just ask Joliet Catholic coach Chris Scheibe, whose smaller lineup provided huge benefits at the Mizuno St. Charles East Scholastic Cup on Saturday.

Scheibe employed 5-foot-8 junior Katie Hickey as a middle hitter in victories over Incarnate Word (Mo.) and Wheaton Warrenville South after a taller lineup failed to stop Naperville North in a 25-15, 19-25, 25-6 quarterfinal loss.

“We did not step up to play that first match,” Scheibe said. “I thought the other lineup would give us more height, but it just wasn’t gelling. For some reason, the shorter lineup gelled. It’s all about chemistry, I guess.”

Joliet Catholic’s loss to Naperville North was its first against an in-state opponent this season.

“We lost to a quality team,” Scheibe said. “We’re being competitive. We haven’t lost a match in two games yet.”

Rosary would welcome the opportunity to see Belleville Althoff again. That would mean that the Royals have reached the Class 3A semifinals in Bloomington. Althoff is the top seed at Jerseyville, while Rosary is seeded second behind St. Francis at Riverside-Brookfield.

Althoff (22-7) defeated Rosary 25-18, 20-25, 15-12 in Friday’s pool play at the Mizuno Cup. The Royals (22-5) finished 4-1 in the tournament, defeating St. Charles East 25-19, 25-20 to win the Silver bracket

“We just made too many mistakes against Althoff,” Rosary coach Lisa Kasper said. “But I’m pleased with the way we came back and won all three of our matches (Saturday) against some fairly good teams.

“We just need to clean up our errors and take control of games, like we did (Saturday),” she added.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament was Neuqua Valley, one of the more schizophrenic teams in the Chicago area.

The Wildcats finished 1-1 in pool play Friday, losing to Barrington (10-18) 21-25, 25-16, 16-14. But they reached Saturday’s Gold bracket on a tiebreaker, where they surprised Wheaton Warrenville South 25-22, 27-29, 25-17 in the quarterfinals.

Neuqua Valley (19-8) has now beaten the top two teams in the DuPage Valley Conference – Naperville North and WW South.

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