Girls volleyball: Grevengoed leads Joliet West past Plainfield North

JOLIET – No matter what the sport, giving your best player the most chances is usually a good option.

That was certainly the case for Joliet West on Wednesday night in a 25-16, 23-25, 25-21 win over Southwest Prairie Conference rival Plainfield North.

With her future coaches at Northern Illinois University in the crowd, West’s Ava Grevengoed delivered time and time again for the Tigers, finishing with a match-high 19 kills to go with six digs and three aces.

“Ava has been on fire lately,” West coach Chris Lincoln said. “She has challenged herself to play better, and she has been.

“She definitely showed the NIU coaches why they recruited her tonight.”

Grevengoed will play at NIU with Plainfield North setter Ella Strausberger, adding to the former’s motivation.

“We expect Plainfield North to play us tough like that,” Grevengoed said. “We haven’t beaten them for the last three years, so it was nice to get a win against them this time and also get our first win in the conference.

“I also have a future teammate on their side [Strausberger], so that made it a little more fun to play this match.”

West (9-1, 1-1) dominated the first set, as Plainfield North suffered through five service errors and six Joliet West aces. West’s Natalia Harris showed signs of things to come late in the first set when she delivered a block to make it 20-16 and then had a kill for the final point of the set.

Harris finished with eight kills and three blocks, while teammate Gabby Piazza had seven kills. Taylor Brenczewski had 16 assists for the Tigers, while Julia Adams had 15 and Olivia Baxter had seven. Baxter added a team-high 12 digs to go with two aces, while Brenczewski added six digs and Adams five.

Plainfield North (5-4, 1-1) regrouped and won a tight second set. Neither team led by more than one until North went on a 4-0 run to make it 16-11, getting back-to-back kills from Isabelle Davis and an ace by Elizabeth Fitzgerald. North stretched the lead to 19-13 before West began to rally, cutting it to 23-21 on a block by Brooke Schwall. North got a kill by Ella Maletich to make it 24-21, but West got kills from Grevengoed and Schwall to pull to within 24-23 before Davis ended it with a kill.

“We are still building,” Plainfield North coach Matt Slechta said. “It’s still early, and we are still working out some kinks. At the same time, this was a great match. In the first set, we had five serving errors and got aced six times. That’s 11 points we just gave them. In the second and third sets, we passed better, served better and were able to read their hitters.”

North used the momentum from the second-set win to move ahead 7-3 in the third set before West rallied to tie it at 7 and 8 before taking a 10-8 lead and never trailed again. When North pulled to within 13-12, Grevengoed took over, recording three straight kills and a block to give West a 17-12 lead. A combined block by Harris and Piazza made it 20-15 before Harris had another kill to make it 21-16. Harris finished it off with another kill.

“Natalia Harris played great,” Lincoln said. “She needed a boost to her confidence, and this will definitely help. Everyone knows about Ava and Gabby, so we need someone else to step up, and Natalia did that tonight.”