Girls volleyball: Bolingbrook cruises, Romeoville wins to set up Valley View final at Lincoln-Way West

NEW LENOX – Often, when a highly seeded team is matched up against a lower seed early in the postseason, it’s easy for the higher seed to think it can take it easy and coast through a match.

That wasn’t the case Tuesday night for the Bolingbrook volleyball team.

The Raiders wasted little time in showing 15th-seeded Thornton Fractional South why they received the No. 2 seed in their half of the Class 4A Lockport Sectional.

In the opening semifinal of the Lincoln-Way West Regional, Bolingbrook (31-4) raced out to an 8-0 lead that eventually reached 18-3 in the first set en route to a 25-11, 25-10 win.

The seeds didn’t matter to the Raiders.

“We knew that it looked like a mismatch, but it’s the postseason, and anything can happen,” said senior Madison Shroba, who led the Raiders with five kills and three aces. “But we know the other team respects us enough to come out and give us their best, so we knew we had to respect them enough to go out and give them our best.

“We feel like we have a job to do, and we hold each other accountable, both on and off the court. We started building something in the summer, and we want it to continue.”

Shroba was instrumental in the early burst, delivering three kills and two aces to help the lead grow to 12-1. Cydney Anderson then added a pair of kills, and Chinenye Ifeajewku added another, while Olivia Vaughn tacked on an ace to contribute to the 18-3 lead before Bolingbrook coach Molly DeSerf began substituting liberally. Down the stretch, the Raiders got kills from Ajonee Sangara, Ava McFayden and Sam Blumenstein, as well as an ace by McFayden.

“The girls were focused tonight,” DeSerf said. “They wanted to get the job done. We have very good leadership on the court. We started well, but at some point in the season the seniors took it upon themselves to try to take things to another level.

“They are so locked in right now, and it’s fun to be a part of it. It looks different every night, and I can’t say enough about how this team has played.”

TF South took a 1-0 advantage in the second set, which drew a big cheer from the Red Wolves’ bench. However, it wasn’t long before Bolingbrook was comfortably back in the lead. Sarah Harvey had three straight kills to give the Raiders a 13-5 lead. Shroba’s fifth kill of the night put Bolingbrook ahead 17-7.

The loudest cheer of the night came when Raiders sophomore Bianca Fefe entered the game and got a kill to put her team ahead 22-8.

“Every year, we pull someone up from the JV team so they can be with the varsity in the postseason,” Shroba said. “It was fun to see Bianca get in the match and get a kill in a varsity playoff game. That will only help her next year.”

The win moves Bolingbrook into Thursday’s title match against Valley View School District rival Romeoville, which beat Lincoln-Way West 25-27, 25-22, 25-17 in the other semifinal.

Chloe Anderson led Romeoville (14-15) with 11 kills, while Demi Cole added seven. Kameron Blizniak had 30 assists, while Eden Eyassu had 14 digs and Alexis Crowley added 12 digs.

Emma Ronaldson had six kills and eight digs for West (15-20), while Laney Tuttle had five kills and eight digs, and Cielo Arnold and Caroline Smith each had four kills. Smith added a team-high four blocks, while Alexa Flores had 17 assists.