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the orland park prairie | August 18, 2016 | 45
Girls Volleyball
Eagles reloading squad for 2016 season
Anna Jonynas to
anchor team as
returning outside
hitter
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
There is an old saying
among sports teams: “We
don’t rebuild; we reload.”
For more than a decade
the Sandburg girls volleyball
team has reloaded. This season,
the Eagles might have
to rebuild.
There is still plenty of talent
on tap for the Eagles,
but there will be a bevy of
young players on this season’s
team, and the key will
be how well they mesh together.
“We are going to be
young, to say the least,”
Sandburg coach David Vales
said. “We will only have a
few seniors.”
One of those seniors, however,
is a huge piece to the
Eagles’ puzzle. That is senior
outside hitter Anna Jonynas.
She is the only returning
starter back from this past
season’s squad, which went
30-8 and won a regional title
for the 12th straight season.
She also was the team’s kill
leader this past season.
“She was our kill leader,
and her defense was good
last year, but she has improved,”
Vales said of Jonynas.
“She’s also been working
on her serve. She’s a
little undersized but makes
up for it by working hard.
“As a whole, we’re not going
to be looking down on
many teams. We’re not as tall
as we have been in the past.”
A trio of juniors with experience
from this past season
also are back. They are
middle hitter Madison Hart,
Maureen “Mo” Imrie —
who dished out 150 assists
in a backup role as setter this
past year, and outside hitter
Abigail Stefanon.
“Madison Hart had a
good club season, and we
expect some more offense
from her,” Vales said. “Mo
Imrie brings things a little
full circle for me. Her older
sister MaryKate Imrie was
a sophomore setter on my
first team. Mo is used to the
speed of the varsity game
and will only get better.
“And Abigail Stefanon
was our third outside hitter
last season. But when she
gets the speed of the game
worked out, she’ll do well.
She’s got big shoes to fill.”
A pair of newcomers will
be big contributors to the
Sandburg defense. They are
freshman libero Rachel Krasowski
and junior libero/
defensive specialist Lauren
Gausselin.
“Rachel played up with
us on the varsity as a freshman
over the summer,”
Vales said. “She’ll make that
jump and try to anchor the
defense. Lauren anticipates
well and will do a good job
getting the ball back up to
our setter.”
Sandburg did something
it had not in previous years
at the Palos Courts Summer
League, enter two teams.
While both of them lost in the
semifinals of the playoffs, that
still showed the potential if
they combined the two teams.
There is a new look for
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference, as three schools
have left the league. The
Eagles have won the SWSC
Fast Five
A look at Sandburg girls volleyball season-opening
schedule
• at Plainfield North Invite, 6 p.m. Aug. 26, 8 a.m. Aug.
27
• hosts Mother McAuley, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 30
• at Wheaton North, 6 p.m. Aug. 31
• at Lyons Township, with Montini, Moline, 5 p.m.
• hosts Joliet Catholic, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 8
Blue Division title for seven
straight seasons but know
doing so this season will be a
real challenge. Lincoln-Way
East, which absorbed all the
players that were at the nowclosed
Lincoln-Way North,
won the Palos Courts summer
league title and are a big
favorite to win the league
title this season.
But the Eagles, who had
26 girls try out for the varsity
team this past week, will
certainly show up and be in
the mix. They hope to peak
at the end of the season.
“For the past three years
in a row we’ve had a good
senior class graduate and a
good junior class to step up
and take their place,” said
Vales, whose teams have
won 29 or more matches in
eight of his nine seasons.
“This year we’ll be younger,
but doesn’t mean we will be
any worse. We just have to
work harder every day and
get better. The girls are looking
at the sectional frame
and being better by then.”
Golf
From Page 46
was on the varsity squad for
three years; and Kelly Golden,
it will be no easy task for
the 2016 girls golf team to
live up to the high bar that
has been set in recent years.
“We’ve had a great run,”
Allen said. “We’ve made
it downstate the past three
years. We finished sixth last
year; we finished fifth the
year before that. We’ve won
the conference three years in
a row. We’ve won the regional
three years in a row. We’ve
been undefeated in dual
matches the last two years.
“We’ve just had a great
group of girls who have done
a great job. We just try to keep
it going. Obviously, losing
some of those seniors will
be tough, but hopefully with
some of those returning girls
we’ll be able to keep it going.”
Despite the high standard
and the graduation of previous
standouts, McGiles said
she is confident in the team’s
chances in 2016.
“Even though we lost a
couple of our seniors, I think
this team has a ton of potential.”
McGiles, who is entering
her fourth year as a varsity
golfer, has seen firsthand the
success of Sandburg’s girls
golf team, and she wants to
be a part of extending that
success.
“I want to be able to continue
that into my senior
year, in dual matches, invites
and into the postseason,” she
said.
McGiles is no stranger to
individual success, either.
She was a medalist at last
year’s regional championship,
firing a 68.
“A goal of mine is to [be
a medalist] again, and even
do that at sectional,” McGiles
said. “Then, when state
comes around, [I want] to be
in the Top 10 or better.”
Even with all the success
Sandburg has had in the last
three years, Allen said he
would rather not make his
2016 goals too lofty.
“We’ll look at what our
team looks like and try to set
some attainable goals,” he
said. “I kind of leave [setting
goals] up to the girls. We’ll
do it together, but a lot of the
input comes from the girls.”
One expectation Allen
said he felt comfortable setting
was making it to the
state tournament, but he acknowledged
there are many
good teams in the conference
and in the area.
“In conference, Lockport
will be tough,” Allen said.
“On the other side of the conference,
Lincoln-Way Central
is going to be very good.
“Golf around the Chicagoland
area is fantastic.
There’s a lot of quality players,
so it’s always a challenge.
That’s why we don’t
take it for granted that we’ve
been able to make it downstate
and finish as high as
we have the last three years,
because we realize how difficult
that is.”
Allen and his team will
have a tough start to the season.
They are slated to have
several away matches this
week, including an earlyseason
test against Lincoln-
Way Central Tuesday, Aug.
23, at The Sanctuary Golf
Course in New Lenox.
But regardless of results
early in the season and into
the postseason, Allen knows
it will be a fun year for the
Sandburg girls golf team.
“It’s always a fun, great
group of girls to work with,”
he said. “I’m looking forward
to the season, and I’m
excited about the group we
have coming back.”
Sophomore and returning varsity golfer Hannah Kilbane
watches as her birdie putt on the final hole of tryouts rolls
toward the cup. Tim Carroll/22nd Century Media