Yorkville bounces back from first set loss to edge Minooka

YORKVILLE – Maddie Hilker is still adjusting to her new role with Yorkville.

Hilker, a second year varsity player, was a starter for the Foxes a season ago, but has become a rotational player this year.

You can’t tell when you talk to her.

“I love this team so much,” Hilker said. “I always want to do what’s best for them.”

With her team down by six in the third set, Hilker’s number was called on four separate occasions to get the Foxes back into the set and into the match.

“She’s done a good job finding different roles to play this year,” Yorkville coach Ryan Donato said. “She got the opportunity today and made the most of it.”

The Yorkville senior logged five kills, including four in the decisive third set, to help down Minooka 24-26, 25-23, 25-23.

Yorkville (10-14, 4-4 SPC West) dropped the first three points of the first set before answering with a six-point run of its own, led by Rylei Warren’s two aces and Camryn Carter’s two kills.

The Foxes led by as much as six in the first set, but slowly saw their lead disappear as Minooka (16-16, 6-3) chipped away with a 6-1 run to even the score at 13, and a 7-1 run to close it out.

The Indians’ offense, led by Kendall Kozak, proved too much to handle in the first set. Kozak logged four kills, an assist and a block assist in the first set.

With the Indians up 25-24 in the first set, middle blocker pair of Gabriella Carlson and Giada Schrementi closed out with a block of Carter’s swing from the outside. With the block, Carlson notched her third block assist of the set, Schrementi logged her second and the Indians took the match lead.

“Maybe our first set wasn’t our best,” Donato said. “But we were in the lead the entire time. We did a good job bouncing back.”

Between attack errors, return errors and service errors, the Foxes accumulated 15 errors in the first set, helping Minooka out to its early lead.

In the second set, Minooka returned the favor, committing 13 errors, nine of which were attacking errors.

Down 9-4 in the second set, the Foxes put together yet another long string of unanswered scoring, this one a 6-0 run that turned into an 8-2 run, giving the Foxes a 13-11 lead.

During the 6-0 run, Yorkville outside hitter Charlee Young came to life, registering a kill and an ace.

The teams traded blows the rest of the set, with neither team gaining more than a three-point advantage. Finally, Carter, who finished the night with 10 kills, put the set away with a kill in the middle of the court.

“The first set, they made all the errors, the second set was neck-and-neck,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “That third game was about who could pull away in the end.”

Minooka’s struggles continued in the third set as the Indians were once again bitten by the error bug, this time to the tune of 12, including six straight Yorkville points earned via a Minooka miscue.

“As soon as our passing fell apart, we didn’t have our right-side middle offense,” Prosek said. “That’s where some errors were made.”

Kozak did everything in her power to keep the Indians in it. Kozak registered six consecutive points (five via kills and one via block assist) to get the Indians into a 10-9 lead.

The junior had six kills in the third set and finished with a double-double, amassing 13 kills, 12 assists and four block assists.

“She’s a great leader on the court,” Prosek said. “Kendall lit it up.”

Kozak’s efforts weren’t enough as Yorkville went on a 14-6 run to close out the third set, propelled by Hilker’s four third set kills.

“It means everything,” Hilker said of her opportunities in the third set. “I want to play for my team, not just myself.”

The Foxes, despite being below .500, have their sights set on the postseason.

“We’re a scary under .500 team,” Donato said. “There’s been games where if we could just put one more serve in play, have one more better pass, hit one more ball in play, and we’d be five games over .500.”

Hilker shares her coach’s sentiment.

“I think when we put our minds to something we can 100% do it,” she said. “Our record doesn’t show how good of a team we really are.”