Suburban Life volleyball notes: Abby Vander Wal passes 1,300 kills, leads Timothy Christian’s record season

Senior Abby Vander Wal was raised on Timothy Christian girls volleyball with hopes as a varsity freshman to someday reach 1,000 career kills.

Now the Trojans’ all-time leader, the 6-foot-3 University of Texas commit surpassed 1,300 during Monday’s victory at Hinsdale Central.

”It’s super special because Timothy is where I grew up and first found volleyball,” said Vander Wal, currently at 1,320. ”I grew up watching my cousins play. My cousin Kacie (Stoll, a 2016 graduate) is the only other player in Timothy history to have over 1,000 kills so that makes it even more special for both of us.”

This has been a special season for the Trojans (33-2), the No. 1 seed in their Class 2A sub-sectional of the Marian Central Catholic Sectional. They’ve won a program-record 33 consecutive matches after losing their first two to 20-win 4A opponents York and Riverside-Brookfield.

”The season has gone a little better than I expected. I knew that we would be a great team, but we assembled a tough schedule,” Timothy coach Scott Piersma said. ”Losing the first two matches was disappointing but it made us realize that we didn’t have everything figured out. A couple changes that we made are really what have enabled us to put this streak together.”

Vander Wal passed 1,000 kills Aug. 30, the first match of the winning streak. Vander Wal has a career .466 attack percentage and totals of 189 aces, 725 digs and 91 blocks. Other standouts this season include juniors Bella Potempa (195 kills, 61 aces), Ella Rickert (149 kills, 42 blocks), Elizabeth Alex (672 assists) and Miriam Pozdol Niego (245 digs).

Timothy seeks its first downstate trip since taking third in 2A in 2015.

”The key for us this postseason is going to be the ability to stay calm,” Vander Wal said .”After we lost our first two games, we had a couple of things to figure out. It truly was a team effort as all of us are very determined and focused on making each other better for the benefit of the whole team.”

Knight time

After back-to-back 2A state runner-up finishes, IC Catholic Prep (20-14) has reached 20 victories for the sixth straight non-COVID season under new head coach Lauren LaVigne with seven returning seniors.

”The experience of going to state the last two years has really given us the confidence to play high-level volleyball,” senior Natalie Lawton said. “All the seniors have really stepped up to be leaders and set a good example. This has helped our team develop a strong bond.”

Lawton and seniors Emily Carling, Maura Grogan, Delilah Hyland and Abby Pikulik return from the 2023 state championship match lineup. The Knights had four key graduations – Ava Falduto, now playing at Penn State, setter Lucy Russ (Wisconsin-Parkside), digs leader Alysa Lawton (Illinois Wesleyan) and Jenny Fromelt.

”We still have our weekly pasta parties, our overnight team bonding trip and all of our pre-game traditions,” Grogan said. “We have had lots of changes, so we have tried to keep many of our traditions the same.”

Stat leaders are Carling (159 kills, 30 aces), Lawton (278 digs, 254 service receptions) Grogan (40 blocks) and junior Mary Kate Hilgart (314 assists). Add to that senior Kiely Kemph (116 kills) and Hyland (30 blocks).

“Going to state has taught us many valuable skills,” Carling said. “We learned how to play calm in high-pressure situations. We also saw first-hand how competitive we can be. Celebrating each other’s successes has kept us motivated and engaged.”

More milestones

Senior Lauren Coyne has become the Wheaton Warrenville South career leader for kills (1,188) and aces (213), passing previous marks of 1,034 (Kirsten Wicks) and 179 (Sarah Burau). Senior libero Ava Young is Hinsdale Central’s career leader for digs (1,428) and aces (174). Willowbrook senior Hannah Kenny reached 1,000 career kills Oct. 18 during Lincoln-Way Central’s Autumn Knights Tournament.Riverside-Brookfield junior setter Claire Cameron passed 1,000 career assists Oct. 17.

Conference champions

Downers Grove North (West Suburban Silver), Downers Grove South (West Suburban Gold), Benet (East Suburban Catholic), Timothy Christian (Chicagoland Christian regular season and tournament), Riverside-Brookfield (Upstate Eight East Division), Westmont (Chicago Prep regular season and tournament) and Lemont (South Suburban Blue).

All-tournament

Benet (34-1) defeated Mother McAuley to win Glenbard East’s Autumnfest Oct. 19 behind tournament MVP Aniya Warren and all-tournament Audrey Asleson.Other Autumnfest all-tournament honorees included Glenbard West’s Cara Herbert, Lemont’s April Rice, WW South’s Lauren Coyne, Downers Grove North’s Jennifer Buehler and Glenbard East’s Belle McDermott.All-tournament honors Oct. 19 also went to Willowbrook’s Hannah Kenny, Downers Grove South’s Sylvia Masiulionis and IC Catholic Prep’s Emily Carling at Lincoln-Way Central and St. Francis’ Addy Horner at Plainfield Central.

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