Katie Day leads York past Riverside-Brookfield for Class 4A regional championship

ELMHURST – For a York girls volleyball season that could have plenty of question marks, junior third-year starter Katie Day quickly found an exclamation point.

”This, by far, is my favorite team. I think it’s the energy. It’s the determination,” Day said. ”Everybody has this subtle competitive drive, whether it’s competing for themselves or the team. It’s persistent. Every practice, every game, everyone wants to win. It’s a great environment. I’m grateful that I get to play with them.”

The No. 2-seeded Dukes fed off that reserve energy often Thursday to defeat determined No. 7 Riverside-Brookfield 25-23, 25-19 and win the Class 4A York Regional title.

York (26-11), which captured its second regional in three years, advances to the Willowbrook Sectional semifinals Tuesday against No. 3 Downers Grove South (24-13). York won their Sept. 23 meeting in two sets. Both sets were battles. The first was tied 19-19 and York led the Bulldogs (25-12) in the second 18-15.

”I thought in the early part of both sets we missed a lot of serves and then towards the end we came up big in hitting our zones and getting them out of system,” said York coach Danny Piwowarczyk, whose team had 12 aces with seven errors.

”[Our players] really stepped up to the plate and our hitting really came up big. We’re a young team but [Day and setter Amalia Toliopoulos] have been stalwarts. And [seniors Emily Roach, Ava Nawrocki and Emilie Zitek] also came up big.”

Day, who leads York with 282 kills, had eight along with 11 digs. Fellow third-year varsity junior Toliopoulos (20 assists, 8 digs), Roach (4 kills) and Nawrocki (2 aces, 3 digs) also excelled along with freshmen Eileen Carroll (7 kills, 6 digs) and Lila Bennis (5 digs, 4 aces, 7 service points) and sophomore Emma Braathen (3 aces, 5 points), a postseason callup.

The Dukes combine a veteran core with numerous freshmen and varsity newcomers. Thirteen players saw action Thursday.

”Right off the bat we really bonded as a team. We were all competitive. Every drill was going 100%,” Toliopoulos said. “We just play together so phenomenally and I feel like that showed tonight a lot. We work hard at practice and that really feeds into the games.”

Roach’s four kills were among York’s final 10 points between the sets. Bennis served five straight points in the first set and Braathen four straight in the second for a 22-15 lead. Carroll had kills for game point in the first set and the Dukes’ first match point at 24-17.

”[Piowarczyk] had this [pre-season lineup] idea in his head. It’s worked out pretty well,” Day said. “With [Bennis and Carroll], there was definitely some gray area but they’ve done an amazing job. They’ve beyond exceeded that expectation.”

R-B was paced by seniors Sofia Owens (2 kills, 4 blocks, ace) and libero Aimee DiBattista (8 digs), juniors Lucy Boyle (5 kills, 6 digs) and Claire Cameron (10 assists) and sophomore Mackenzie Sloger (2 kills, 4 aces, 10 points, 5 digs), whose four straight points tied the first set at 19.

The Bulldogs had their greatest season since their last regional title in 2016. That included a 6-0 run to the Upstate Eight East Division title in their conference debut.

Four-year starter Owens surpassed 200 kills for her highest single-season total. Like York, many key players are underclassmen.

”I’m not disappointed. We came ready to go. I think we gave up too many strings of points and played the catch-up game. That’s hard. You don’t have enough energy to finish,” third-year R-B coach Caitlin Staib-Lipinski said. ”Our goal for the season was for people to see us as a threat. That definitely shows how these girls have changed the program.”