Downers Grove North tops York to complete perfect West Suburban Conference Silver Division run

ELMHURST – Senior Abby Gross juggles being the starting libero for the Downers Grove North girls volleyball team and being the starting point guard in basketball.

”Basketball’s a completely different sport. You’ve got to be in good shape,” Gross said. “Volleyball is a little bit more coordination and reaction time.”

Gross shared a gratifying feeling between the sports Tuesday.

She helped the Trojans complete a perfect West Suburban Conference Silver Division title run with a 25-19, 25-19 victory against York after helping last season’s girls basketball team capture its first Silver crown since 2014.

”It’s awesome. Both sports I love so much and the way you do it is just with teamwork and everyone around you wanting to do it,” Gross said. ”My basketball team had a good group of seniors pushing us to get to that conference championship. I really think that for any sport you’ve just got to believe and you can do it.”

Three third-year varsity seniors fueled the Trojans (21-10) on Tuesday – Jenny Buehler (8 kills, 7 digs), Sarah Rutkowski (8 service points, 3 aces) and Gross (9 digs) – along with juniors Nora Benjamin (5 kills, 5 blocks) and Anabel Miller (11 points, 2 aces), sophomore Nicole Liu (5 kills) and freshman setter Ellery Cabaj (20 assists).

The Trojans not only went 6-0 in Silver play but didn’t lose a set. And they’ve continued to roll without injured all-conference junior standout Kelley Crowley, who is expected to return for the postseason.

It’s no wonder the Trojans are the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Willowbrook Sectional. They could meet the No. 2 seeded-Dukes (23-11, 3-3 in Silver) again in the Nov. 7 sectional final.

”It’s been good. And this is such a tough conference,” Downers Grove North coach Mark Wasik said. ”Sometimes it comes down to who you’re playing when. I think we caught teams at the right time. But that’s not to discredit what we’re doing by no means because we knew [York] is a tough team and we’re playing them on their home floor.”

This is the Trojans’ first conference title since the 2020-21 abbreviated spring season after COVID-19 restrictions postponed the usual fall schedule. In conventional seasons, this adds to back-to-back 6-0 titles in 2017 and 2018.

The Trojans clinched the Silver title last week over two-time defending champion Glenbard West (24-9, 4-2) but wanted perfection.

”We’ve never had a season like this before, especially not losing a set [in conference]. It’s crazy for us,” Rutkowski said. ”It’s been so much fun. This group of girls is just amazing. We really believe that we can go far this year.”

Leading York were juniors Katie Day (7 kills), Amalia Toliopoulos (5 kills, 9 assists, 5 digs), Ellie Kehoe (6 digs) and Elyse Smith (9 assists) and freshman Eileen Carroll (5 kills, 5 points, ace).

Two key factors Tuesday were serving and quick starts. Nine straight points by Miller with an ace opened a 13-3 lead in the first set. Back-to-back Rutkowski aces initiated six straight points and a 7-0 lead in the second set.

”I think we are very strong servers. This past weekend we kind of had a rough time but I think we’re definitely making our way back,” Rutkowski said.

York closed to 22-18 in the first set and 18-13 in the second set. With several varsity newcomers, the Dukes are on the verge of their third straight season with at least 25 victories.