Girls volleyball: York’s Emelyn Stettin, Jessie Trapp the driving force behind another successful season

After being volleyball teammates at Bryan Middle School, York seniors Emelyn Stettin and Jessie Trapp were reunited as sophomores with one big change.

“It was cool to see her as a setter,” Trapp said. “I had never seen her set before and she was just amazing.”

They’ve since become quite a powerful combination.

The returning All-West Suburban Conference Silver Division players are a driving force for the Dukes (15-6, 1-3 in Silver), who won 26 matches and a Class 4A regional title in 2022 before losing to powerful Willowbrook for the second straight postseason.

Trapp has a team-high 195 kills as Stettin (320 assists) is running a one-setter offense for the first time. They’re also important leaders and co-captains with senior libero Piper Barber.

“I have to have a calm presence (as setter) and calm everyone down when tensions are high,” Stettin said. “We do a really good job of bringing the intensity throughout matches and keeping consistent. If we can just dominate on the offensive side and keep working on our blocking and defense and serving tough, we’ll be good.”

As a freshman, Stettin was the junior varsity setter during Benet’s 4A state championship season. Stettin still plays right-side hitter and 6-2 setter with her Sky High club team but already had been working on dumps and block moves, which helped this season’s 5-1 transition. Upon transferring to York, Stettin immediately made her mark with a single-season school record 59 service aces.

“I started working on serving seventh grade through freshman year,” Stettin said. “That was a huge focus for me and then I just developed a rhythm. Somehow my serving just kept going with me.”

Barber (37) and Stettin (34) are this season’s ace leaders. Last season, Stettin had 50 and might have broken her record if not for missing about three weeks with a sprained ankle. Another Stettin ankle injury in 2021 led to Trapp being promoted to varsity – primarily as a setter. Last season, Trapp emerged at outside hitter with eight double-digit kill matches. This season she already has 10, including a single-match best 19 kills against Timothy Christian Sept. 7.

“I’ve been working on getting more different shots and mixing up my shots so I’m not hitting the same spots,” said Trapp, who is playing club with 1st Alliance. “I think I’m hitting a little bit harder but I’ve been working on tips, some cut shots.”

For the first time during Tuesday’s match at Lyons Township, Stettin began regularly setting Trapp back row in a new formation. Trapp delivered 16 kills with four errors. Despite the 25-21, 20-25, 25-23 loss, York coach Danny Piwowarczyk and players agreed it was their best match of the season.

“We practiced it one day where we were looking at running a 6-2 and I was like, ‘Maybe we can just run this same exact lineup but just have Jessie play defense and swing. She’s insane at defense,” Piwowarczyk said. “It worked out obviously. It worked out well. I think we’re going to roll with that for a bit and see how it works.”

Mustang milestone

As Downers Grove South continues to build, junior setter Alex Barcenas remains an important constant. There were numerous Barcenas giant head signs around Sept. 26 as she reached her 1,000th career assist during the Mustangs’ home victory over Addison Trail.

“The coaches did a lot of work to decorate it. There were signs of my head around the school. My parents had it, my teammates had it and the sophomores,” Barcenas said. “(On No. 1,000) the cheering was so loud and being able to see my parents was a really special moment for me.”

The Mustangs (10-12) are about to surpass last season’s 14 victories with a lineup again predominantly of non-seniors. On Friday, they lost at Lyons Township 25-12, 26-24 after rallying from a 20-12 deficit in the second set for set point at 24-23.

“I feel like this year is the highest skill levels we’ve had. I also feel it’s the most mental year,” Barcenas said. “We’re working on this every single practice. We have to be better but we only can do that if we believe that we can.”

Lyons record-breaker

During Tuesday’s three-set home victory over York, Lyons Township setter and George Washington recruit Abby Markworth broke the career assists record of 2,236 by 2012 graduate Alexis Viliunas.