Oswego turns away Joliet West, captures school’s first volleyball conference championship

OSWEGO – Sidney Hamaker held the conference plaque up high and jumped up and down, mobbed by jubilant Oswego teammates.

So close last year, they finished the job Thursday.

The Panthers let a big lead in the second set slip away, but were not to be denied history. Flipping the script from the result last season, Oswego beat visiting Joliet West in a regular season finale of Southwest Prairie Conference co-leaders 25-19, 22-25, 25-12 on Thursday to capture the first volleyball conference championship in school history.

Oswego (29-4, 11-0) last season dropped its final match with Joliet West (26-9, 10-1), the Tigers taking the conference title in a tiebreaker. That memory wasn’t on Hamaker’s mind during Thursday’s match, but it came flooding back afterward.

“It’s just insane,” said Hamaker, a senior outside hitter and Long Beach State recruit. “It was such a low last year, even though we got second. They’re a team that we had never beaten before. Especially beating them, winning conference, it’s insane. I can’t even explain it.”

Oswego’s volleyball program had little tradition before Hamaker and the other five seniors arrived. But they won 29 matches and just the program’s fourth regional title last year, and on Thursday matched that team’s school win record.

“I tell you what, it feels incredible,” Oswego coach Gary Mosley said. “First time ever to be conference champions, there is a lot of pride in that. A lot of kids and coaches put in a lot of work on this court. I’m honored.”

After watching a 17-9 lead slip away in the second set, Oswego watched as Joliet West carried the momentum into the third with a quick 3-0 lead.

Hamaker, though, took over from there. She had three kills and an ace over Oswego’s next five points, her ace giving the Panthers the lead for good at 5-4.

“We were not going to lose that game, not again,” said Hamaker, who had 15 kills and 10 digs. “I was not going to let that happen again.”

Jurkovic took it from there, the Western Michigan commit putting down three of her 10 kills with a block during an 8-0 run that gave Oswego a commanding lead at 11-4.

“She just caught a rhythm,” Mosley said. “One hitting error, other than that she was on fire.”

Oswego was on fire early, Hamaker getting six of her 15 kills during the first set in which the Panthers never trailed. They looked to be cruising on their way to a clean two-set win up 17-9 after a Jurkovic kill on an overpass, but Joliet West had other ideas.

Lina Grovoni, who had 10 kills and 11 assists, had a kill to start a 9-1 run that pulled the Tigers even at 18-18. Tied at 22-22, Joliet West scored the final three points of the set. Grovoni, one of eight juniors on a Joliet West team with just one senior, had the kill for set point.

Joliet West rallied without even halting Oswego’s momentum with a timeout.

“Sometimes I kind of have to trust the girls, kind of a gut feeling kind of thing,” Joliet West coach Chris Lincoln said. “I will say we were serving a lot more aggressive. When we’re on, we can scare a lot of teams with our serving. Our defense was working hard.”

Mosley noticed.

“I did not waver one bit in that second set,” he said. “We were everywhere we were supposed to be. Balls were just not dropping our way. Hats off to Joliet West, they pushed hard and they came back. I told the girls to stay calm and catch that rhythm.”

Hamaker, Jurkovic and junior middle Maya Norlin, who had seven kills, found it again in the third, and Joliet West struggled to contain them.

“First and third set, that’s what fell apart was our back row defense. We had trouble digging the ball up,” said Lincoln, whose team could potentially face Oswego again in a sectional semifinal. “Our defenders were having a hard time getting behind the ball and serve receive got a little ugly at times. Hopefully we can learn from this and make a decent run in the playoffs.”

Freshman Lexi Grevengoed had eight kills and five digs, and sophomore Julia Adams added nine digs and 11 assists, including her 1,000th career, for Joliet West. Kelsey Flanigan had 37 assists and Alexis Terrazas 13 digs for Oswego.

“It’s just an awesome feeling,” Hamaker said. “Coming in as a freshman, we were around .500, sophomore year exactly .500 and just building this up. It’s rewarding. It shows how much our hard work paid off.”