Lincoln-Way West heeds coach’s message to ‘bring the fire’, storms back to beat Joliet West in 3 sets

NEW LENOX – After dropping the first set to Joliet West on Monday night, Lincoln-Way West coach Kendall Villa had a simple message for her team.

“I just felt like we were very flat,” she said. “I didn’t feel like they were bringing the energy that they normally have. Sometimes it takes teams a little while to get warmed up, so I just asked them to bring the fire. I asked them to turn to their teammates when they have a big play and celebrate them. Have that team unity.”

What happened after that, however, even Villa had to make a confession.

“I had no idea they were going to turn it around quite like that,” she said with a chuckle.

After a back-and-forth start to the second set, the Warriors finished on a 15-2 run against one of the best teams in the area, if not the state. The third set started competitively as well, before the Warriors outscored the Tigers 14-6 to close out the set and match. Lincoln-Way West defended its home court with an 18-25, 25-12, 25-17 victory.

Lincoln-Way West (15-8) was competitive in the first set and held a 4-2 lead before the Tigers pulled ahead 7-5 on a kill by Lexie Grevengoed. The two squads battled to another tie at 8-all before the Tigers began pulling away, first 13-9 and then 18-13. A kill by Emma Salerno was the first of three straight points by the Tigers.

While Lincoln-Way West began matching points from there, the Joliet West edge was too much to overcome as the Tigers closed out the set with three straight points.

The second set remained back and forth. A 3-1 start for the Warriors was quickly a 3-3 tie before the Warriors moved ahead again 7-4. But a kill by Eden Eyassu sparked a 4-0 run by the Tigers to put them up 8-7. After a back-and-forth exchange to reach a 10-all tie, the Warriors began with a 5-0 run, forcing Joliet West coach Christopher Lincoln to call timeout.

The Tigers scored two straight out of the break, but a dig by Laney Tuttle set up a kill by Kaylea Armstrong to trigger a 10-0 run to close the set by the Warriors. That set up a decisive third set.

After the Warriors fell behind 4-1, they slowly but surely began to claw their way back. A 5-1 run ended with a kill by Lily Goyer to put the Warriors in front 6-5. The set remained tight for a time with an ace by Julia Adams moving the Tigers into an 11-all tie, but a kill by Armstrong started a 6-0 run to put Lincoln-Way West up 18-11.

It was fairly even the rest of the way, but that didn’t help the Tigers, and Tuttle’s ace closed out the match.

Caroline Smith finished with 10 kills, Goyer had eight, and Armstrong tied Elly Decker at seven each for Lincoln-Way West. Kara Stigter finished with five aces and two blocks, while Claire Murphy had 32 assists.

“We definitely got some energy [in the second set],” Stigter said. “We all just came together and played as a team.”

The Tigers (14-4) started off as well as they had most of the season, but their youth began to show as the match wore on. There were impressive showings by Lina Govoni (five kills, two blocks, 15 assists), Eyassu (five kills, 14 digs), Adams (12 assists, two aces) and Gravengoed (11 kills, five digs), but the big runs in the final two sets ultimately doomed them.

“They just have to believe in themselves,” Lincoln said. “I think if one of them makes a mistake, they begin to think that’s the kind of player they are, but they’re not. This is the youth of my team. The more varsity experience they get, the more they’re going to trust one another. They can do it. They could have a good playoff run, but it’s up to them to trust each other.”