Girls volleyball notebook: Joliet-area teams adjusting to lineup changes

Before the girls volleyball season started, a couple of Herald-News area teams saw players that they were counting on as returning starters transfer to other schools.

Brooklynne Brass of Minooka transferred to Benet, while Eden Eyassu transferred from Romeoville to Joliet West. Adding to Romeoville’s roster woes recently has been an injury to Youngstown State-bound setter Kameron Blizniak, though she is slated to return soon, according to coach Paige Reinert.

It doesn’t seem to have slowed the programs down, though.

Entering Wednesday’s match against Lincoln-Way East, Minooka sported a record of 8-6 and the Indians were 2-0 in the Southwest Prairie Conference. Romeoville, meanwhile, beat Lincoln-Way Central on Monday to improve to 4-6 overall and is 2-1 in the SPC. Both teams have been picking up wins by utilizing the team concept.

“At times this year, we look better than last year,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “We had moments last year when we were just waiting for Brooklynne to take over. This year, the girls know she isn’t here and that they all have to do their jobs. It has made us more balanced and teams don’t really know where the attack is going to come from.”

Romeoville, meanwhile, has used Blizniak’s leadership and the hitting of Lianna Ortiz to rack up the points. Ortiz has had 15, 20 and 14 kills in her last three matches. Freshman setter Aubree Westerfield, filling in during Blizniak’s absence, has done well distributing the ball, showing particular skill at quick-setting the Spartans’ middle hitters.

“Aubree has learned a lot from Kameron,” Reinert said. “Kameron is such a great leader by example. Aubree was also our No. 2 outside hitter before Kam got hurt, so she was on the floor with her to see what needs to be done. She has done a tremendous job and this experience will only help us when Kameron comes back.”

DON’T SLEEP ON THE STEELMEN

Don’t look now, but Joliet Central is just a game shy of the .500 mark at 3-4 after beating Rich Township on Tuesday. The Steelmen displayed a cohesive team defense and a strong serving game to beat the Raptors, and both are ingredients to continued success.

One of the keys for Central and coach Kevin O’Connell was the move of outside hitter Camryn Brown to libero.

“Camryn was an outside hitter for us as recently as last week,” O’Connell said. “We thought she would make a good libero, so we tried her there and she did a great job.”

The Steelmen also got a strong performance out of Aaliyah Castillo as a middle hitter/blocker. She was put there out of necessity, as neither of the two Joliet Central middles were able to make it to Wednesday’s match, and came through with some big blocks in the victory.

TOP TEAMS

A third of the way through the season, some teams have started to distance themselves from the rest. Chief among them are Joliet West, Lockport and Lincoln-Way East in Class 4A and Providence Catholic in Class 3A. It’s nothing new to any of those programs, as they have consistently been in the top tier of Herald-News area teams.

After winning a sectional title last season and seeing a significant portion of the starting lineup graduate, Joliet West has reloaded and started the season with a 10-0 record before Wednesday’s nonconference match against Lockport. The Porters, meanwhile, entered the match with a 14-2 record, the only losses coming to perennial powers Lyons and Loyola. Lincoln-Way East, meanwhile, sports a 6-2 record, losing only to Loyola and Benet.

Providence, which has won eight straight regional championships, owns a 9-1 record, the only loss coming to St. Ignatius.

In Class 2A, Seneca has posted a 14-2 record, the only losses to Providence and Oak Forest. On Monday, the Irish picked up a two-set win over Class 3A neighbor Morris.