Girls volleyball: Romeoville outlasts Lincoln-Way Central in 3 sets

ROMEOVILLE – Romeoville and Lincoln-Way Central were missing key players for Monday night’s nonconference court matchup. The Spartans were without Youngstown State-bound setter Kameron Blizniak, while the Knights were missing the 6-foot-2 presence of sophomore Ella Thompson in the middle.

In the end, Romeoville freshman setter Aubree Westerfield filled in admirably with 27 assists and seven digs, and the play of Lianna Ortiz (14 kills, 10 digs) and Lexi Crowley (22 digs), among others, helped the Spartans improve to 4-6 on the season with a 25-23, 19-15, 25-18 victory.

“This was a good win,” said Ortiz, who had 15 and 20 kills in her last two matches before Monday. “We started kind of slow in the third set after losing the second, but we kept building off of the good things we were doing and worked well as a team. Everyone contributed.

“No one was out there trying to do too much. We all know our roles and where we should be, and we are starting to come together. We have worked hard at practice, and it’s starting to pay off.”

The first set was nip-and-tuck the entire way, with the largest lead belonging to Lincoln-Way Central (4-6) at 13-10. The score was tied at 23 after an ace by Central’s Madelyn Jablonski, but Romeoville got back-to-back kills from Ortiz and Arianna Thomas to win the set.

The Knights jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the second set. Romeoville got to within 13-10 at one point and later pulled to within 21-18, but Central got the final four points, including a kill each by Mya Donnelly, Haley Podkul and Penny Smith as well as an ace by Ava Birmingham to claim the set and force a third.

“This was a hard-fought match, and we had some good stretches,” Central coach Mary Brown said. “We struggled with our blocking tonight, and our serve receive wasn’t as good as we need it to be.

“For the most part, though, I thought we played well. Morgan Kozlowski (seven kills) and Haley Podkul (nine kills) both played great, but it was tough without our 6-2 middle. We’re still trying to figure out what our best lineup is.”

In the third set, Central moved out to a 5-1 lead after an ace by Kozlowski, but Romeoville took control with a 7-0 spurt. The Spartans got two kills from Ortiz in the stretch and one each by Thomas and Gabriella Villanueva to tak a 9-6 lead and never trailed again.

Central pulled to within 11-9, but a kill by Milena Stepien, an ace by Westerfield and a net violation put the Spartans ahead 14-9. The lead grew to 20-11 before Central got two kills from Podkul and one by Donnelly to close to 20-14. Down the stretch, Westerfield twice came up with tip kills to help seal the victory.

“We are adjusting pretty well as the season goes on,” Romeoville coach Paige Reinert said. “Lianna has been on fire lately, and Aubree did a great job tonight. Having her be able to learn from Kameron, who is a great leader by example, has been great for her. She is willing to learn and can do pretty much everything. She started the season as our No. 2 outside hitter, but she has done a great job of setting.

“We are a young team, and these girls have stepped up and performed well.”