Eden Eyassu’s all-around play leads Joliet West past Minooka in straight sets

CHANNAHON — During the club volleyball season, Joliet West’s Eden Eyassu plays libero.

However, during the high school season, Eyassu – a transfer from Romeoville – is also needed as an outside hitter. She played that role well Thursday night, amassing five kills and six digs to lead the Tigers to a 25-19, 25-10 Southwest Prairie Conference win against Minooka.

“I play libero in club, and that’s actually the position I prefer to play,” Eyassu said. “We have a lot of hitters, and it depends on how the match plays out as to who gets the ball more. Tonight was my night, but having so many helps us out, because the other team can’t shut down everyone.

“I really like passing, but I knew I would have to play in the front row this year. It’s fun to play all the way around and not come off the court. You feel more into the match than you do if you come out for a few rotations and then come back in.”

Joliet West (17-4, 7-0) made precious few errors throughout the match, forcing Minooka (15-15, 5-2) to earn every point.

The first set remained close most of the way. The Tigers broke a 4-4 tie with a combined block from Lina Govoni (nine assists, four aces, four digs) and Mady Gant. A net violation, a hitting error and a double-hit violation on Minooka pushed the score out to 8-4, and the Tigers never trailed again in the set. Gant added a block and a kill to make it 10-5 before a kill by Minooka’s Jalynn Scaggs, a West hitting error and an ace by Kendall Kozak pulled the Indians to within 10-8. The teams traded points a few times to make it 13-11.

West then stretched the lead to 17-12 with two kills by Eyassu and one each by Gant and Emma Salerno before Minooka rallied to cut it to 19-17, highlighted by a kill from Kozak and a block by Giada Schrementi. The score was 21-18 after a kill by Minooka’s Courtney Walte, but West scored four of the next five points, getting back-to-back kills from Eyassu and Gant to close the set.

“We’ve had a couple of rough matches lately,” Eyassu said. “I think this one proves that we are getting ready for things to get serious.

“It’s been great coming over here. The girls all welcomed me with open arms. I love it here.”

Lexie Grevengoed had six kills and nine digs for the Tigers, while Julia Adams had 10 assists and four digs. Sidney Barlog had five digs.

“We were very clean and efficient tonight,” West coach Chris Lincoln said. “We missed some serves, but we are an aggressive serving team, and errors will happen. But then Lina went on an amazing serving run in the second set, and that really helped us. Eden really steps up for us in the front row and gets some good swings, and she always plays good defense.

“We knew we were in for a tough match tonight. Minooka fights hard every time out and makes you earn all your points. Our girls showed up to play tonight and kept the errors to a minimum.”

Early in the second set, Joliet West led 4-2 before Govoni stepped to the service line. She delivered three aces and Minooka was guilty of two hitting errors, pushing the Tigers out to a 9-2 lead. Minooka could not recover.

Walter led Minooka with five kills, while Ella Carlson had three.

“This was not our night,” Minooka coach Carrie Prosek said. “We did not serve-receive well at all. It’s tough to get anything going if you aren’t passing well. I figured this match would come down to who came to pass, and Joliet West did a much better job tonight.

“This is one of those matches where we just want to put it behind us and move forward. We’ll learn from it, though. Something like this, hopefully it will be a reality check for us with the postseason coming up.”