Julia Adams leads a balanced attack as Joliet West Volleyball sweeps Plainfield South – Shaw Local

JOLIET – Last season, Joliet West’s Julia Adams was a freshman setter for the Tigers and led them to their best record ever and a section championship.

Nine seniors left the team last year, leaving Adams as one of the few remaining starters and something of an elder statesman despite only being a sophomore this season. Adams was instrumental in Southwest Prairie’s 25-21, 25-16 win over Plainfield South on Tuesday, distributing the ball to multiple batters and keeping the Cougars off balance. Adams finished the game with 11 assists.

“We have a lot of new players this year,” Adams said. “After losing nine seniors last year, this is a pretty much different team. I like being one of the leaders on the floor.

“This year it’s a little easier for me because so many of the girls are closer to my age. But it’s still a new group and it’s been fun getting to know all the different personalities and the way they want to play the ball.”

The Tigers (16-4, 6-0) got off to a somewhat slow start and led 5-4 for the first time. From then on, however, balance in their offense took over. Eden Eyassu had two kills, Lexie Grevengoed four, Emma Salerno two and Faith Jordan one, helping West extend the lead to 19-7.

However, Plainfield South (11-9, 2-4) didn’t lose. The Cougars trailed 20-9, but used a great service run from Grace Malek that included five aces to rally and make it 21-0. Unfortunately for South, the scoring ended there as West scored the final four points on a kill by Adams, ace from Sydney Barlog and two South hitting errors. Malek finished with five aces and three kills, while his teammate Savannah Stepanek also had three kills.

“We had a good run at the end of the first set,” South coach Michelle Altes-Kirby said. “We seem to be pretty good at getting to 20 or 21, whether we need to take an early lead or come back. But after that we find it difficult to finish the sentences and we have to keep working on that.

“Our serve has come a long way since the start of the season. Now is the time of the season when we need to start putting it all together. We will work on our blocking and avoiding the block in training.”

The second set was similarly close at the start, with ties at 4, 5 and 6, before Joliet West got an ace from Lina Govoni and a kill each from Mady Gant and Eyassu to take a 10-6 lead. It was 12-8 before Salerno got two kills against two South hitting errors, giving the Tigers a 16-8 lead. They kept adding more, and a kill from Grevengoed and a block from Jordan on consecutive points pushed the lead to 19-10. Grevengoed, Govoni and Gant continued to add kills to seal the win.

Grevengoed led West with eight kills and six digs, while Eyassu (7 digs) and Salerno each had six kills. Govoni had 13 assists, four blocks and 10 digs, while Barlog had nine digs.

“We had good balance tonight,” West coach Chris Lincoln said. “Our defense did a good job and Plainfield South made us get our points. After we cleaned up a few things, we played pretty well.

“These girls work well together. We are a young team, but a lot of girls play together in the club and therefore know each other. They are ready to come here and make their own statement. They recognize what it takes to be a great team and have already experienced some great moments. Everyone plays their role and these girls have a lot of athletic ability and courage.”