Girls volleyball: Joliet West sweeps Oswego to capture first Southwest Prairie Conference title

JOLIET – Last season, Joliet West won a sectional girls volleyball championship for the first time in school history.

The Tigers had a chance to make more history Thursday, taking on Oswego for the Southwest Prairie Conference championship. In fact, either way would have made history, as neither team had won an SPC title. Oswego entered the match with a 10-0 league record, while West was 9-1.

Joliet West (32-3, 10-1 SPC) started hot and stayed that way, sweeping past Oswego (27-6, 10-1) 25-17, 25-23. West wins the conference title because it won the head-to-head match.

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set, getting two kills from Ava Grevengoed (13 kills) and one by Peyton Darguzis (5 kills) and an ace by Darguzis. The Tigers stretched the lead to 15-7 on back-to-back kills by Gabby Piazza (7 kills). Julia Adams then got a back-row kill to put the Tigers ahead 16-7. Oswego got back-to-back kills from Sidney Hamaker to pull to within 18-12, but the Panthers got no closer in the set.

“This is the best we have played all year,” West coach Chris Lincoln said. “We worked on blocking for about an hour at practice yesterday, and we did a great job of blocking tonight. They [Oswego] have good outside hitters, and everyone did their part and stepped up and trusted each other.

“This is the first conference championship in program history. We wanted to make a statement against a good team, and I think we did.”

Not only was it the first SPC title for Joliet West, but it tied the record of 32 wins set when West and Central were one program as Joliet Township.

“We knew that Joliet West had never won a title in this conference,” Grevengoed said. “We wanted to come out and make history again. This group of girls really played their hearts out for the seniors.

“The first set, we played great. The second set, we pushed through and were able to come back when we were behind a couple of times. Our setters [Adams and Taylor Brenczewski] did a great job of getting the ball in the sweet spot tonight so we could take full swings. And, our block was great. Our game plan was to shut down their outside hitters. Even I got a block.”

West jumped ahead 6-2 early in the second set, but Oswego rallied and took its first lead of the night at 10-9. The lead reached 12-9 before West countered with three points to tie it at 12. Oswego then got a block by Mia Jurkovic and one by Maya Norlin before an ace by Riley Borrowman put the Panthers ahead 15-12.

The Tigers answered again, getting a kill by Piazza, back-to-back kills by Grevengoed and a block by Darguzis to take an 18-16 lead. Oswego tied it on kills by Kelsey Foster and Hamaker to tie it at 18. West went ahead 22-20, getting three kills from Grevengoed in the spurt. Oswego then got a kill by Hamaker (9 kills), an ace by Hamaker and a block by Jurkovic to move ahead, 23-22. West tied it on an Oswego serving error, took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Piazza and ended it with an ace by Olivia Baxter.

Darguzis had three blocks, while Grevengoed and Piazza each had one. Adams had 16 assists with Brenczewski adding seven. Baxter led with eight digs, while Grevengoed and Isabella Nelson each had five and Brenczewski had four.

“Every day, we look back and reflect on what we did right and what we did wrong,” Lincoln said. “We didn’t do much wrong tonight.”

Oswego coach Gary Mosley was pleased with his team’s effort despite the result.

“We would have liked the conference championship, but we have our eyes on a bigger trophy,” Mosley said. “Give Joliet West credit, they were hot early and played very well. It’s great for us to be tested like this at this point of the season. Win or lose, let’s see what we’ve got and what we need to work on.

“The girls never quit and played very well late. We were just playing catch-up all night, and thats hard to do against a team as good as Joliet West.”