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The final countdown begins. It is only one week until the volleyball postseason.
In Class 4A, four teams in the Herald-News’ top five and the three teams close to breaking into the rankings all are in the Romeoville Sectional.
Even reaching the sectional level will be tough. Minooka and Lincoln-Way West are in the T.F. South Regional, while Lincoln-Way East will be at Oak Forest, Plainfield Central and Joliet Catholic at Plainfield Central and Lockport and Joliet West at Joliet West.
Even though Minooka is the No 1 seed, many others will put up a huge fight. Every team will have to bring its “A” game, and it’s the last week that teams have the opportunity to fine-tune their games.
This rotation isn’t working? Well, let’s try running a slide. The outside isn’t getting her serves over? Well, let’s start using the defensive specialist for her instead of the middle.
In all cases, that’s the scenario teams hope for. They hope to be focusing on little things that can earn them a few more points or help them side-out quicker.
This season has seen some big injuries, particularly in the Romeoville Regional. Luckily for two of those teams, they are recovering from those injuries.
Unfortunately for another, they just lost their top gun. In the final game of the Maine West invite, Lockport experienced a heartbreak. Late in the game against Lyons Township, JoDee Kovanda sprained her ankle and she will miss the remainder of the season.
Kovanda, a previous Herald-News player of the week, has led the Porters to a 22-10 record. For the season, she totaled 190 kills, 244 assists, 164 digs, 22.5 blocks and 42 aces.
Even though the loss hit hard, Lockport hopes to keep this season’s momentum going. The Porters still have their eye on getting as far as they can in postseason, and they’re already playing for their teammate.
“JoDee is a one-of-a-kind athlete,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “It’s not just her skill set but her hard work ethic and leadership that makes her our MVP.
“When she got hurt, it was 17-17 against a great Lyons team. We scrambled to make subs and put together a lineup to replace her. Although we were all emotional, the girls showed heart and grit to win, 26-24. Losing JoDee is tough, but we will work as hard as possible to make sure we reach the goals we set for ourselves. Our theme this year is ‘All in.’ It’s time to live by that.”
GAINING ONE BACK
Twice this season, Lincoln-Way East fell to Minooka in three.
The first loss, the team was new and learning each other. The Griffins still were learning what roster would work. In the second loss, however, many might have wondered whether the third game would have been closer if East had its top middle playing.
For the Mizuno Cup tournament, East had to play without Haley Hart because of a concussion. The first day, they were able to beat skilled teams because they are strong even with Hart out of the lineup. However, the Griffins saw that they needed their top middle so they could have a stronger net-front presence.
For the postseason, they’ll have her.
“I think the timing for getting Haley back prior to the playoffs is incredibly important for us,” East coach Kris Fiore said. “She is our most efficient hitter with a hitting percentage just under .400 for the season, and she is our team’s best blocker.”
BACK IN TIME
Joliet Catholic is the most successful playoff team in the area. The Angels continually make the trip to state and have been the 3A runner-up two consecutive years.
Misfortune struck, however. Sarah Nahas went down with a back injury, then Emmie Naal and Emily Jones were injured.
Well, the Angels still are missing Naal and Jones, but Nahas came back on a mission in the Autumnfest tournament. The junior setter earned all-tournament honors and helped JCA to a Silver Division championship. Nahas had 126 assists, 27 digs and eight blocks.
Taylor Zurliene, Emily Holbrook, Brenna Testa and Meg Sliwa also had strong tournaments. Holbrook had 38 kills and 33 digs, while Sliwa had 51 digs and Testa added 18 digs. Zurliene stepped up with 46 kills and 43 digs. That shouldn’t be too surprising considering she was a starter for the two years JCA made the trip to state.
“Taylor showed this weekend that she’s a senior star,” JCA coach Christine Scheibe said. “She was a steady, consistent player every single game. She had minimal ups and downs and was there every time we needed her. She played like somebody who has been on the court at Redbird Arena for two state championships.”