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wilmettebeacondaily.com SPORTS
the wilmette beacon | November 7, 2019 | 33
Girls volleyball
New Trier falls in regional final to Fremd
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
For the second consecutive
season, New Trier and
Fremd met in the state
playoffs. And like last
year, the game was an intense
matchup between
two highly successful programs.
Also like last year,
Fremd took down the Trevians,
this time in the New
Trier Regional final 21-25,
25-20, 25-20 Thursday,
Oct. 31, in Winnetka.
“It was such a fun game,
we were just talking about
it in the locker room that
Fremd out up such a great
fight,” Bodman said.
“They’re not willing to
give up no matter what and
it creates such a competitive
environment.
That’s what girls volleyball
is, everyone wants to
win. That’s what makes it
so fun about it.”
Fremd controlled the
first set from the early
going, but every time the
Vikings would extend a
lead, the Trevians would
mount a comeback, pointby-point.
After tying the set at
12, the Trevians went on
a 10-4 run, essentially
making it too difficult for
the visitors to come back
from. In the process, the
hosts were able to take
care of multiple Fremd
hitting and passing errors,
getting the Vikings out of
sync multiple times.
“They have some go-to
hitters so we were shutting
them down,” Bodman
said. “The blocking was on
point and we were playing
defense really well. It was
an all-around good set.
“We came out with so
much energy in the first set
and that was pretty much
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 6 days ago
Cat Flood puts down a kill during New Trier’s match
against Fremd Thursday, Oct. 31, in Winnetka. Carlos
Alvarez/22nd Century Media
unstoppable.”
The second set was
much like the first in that
one team got off to a quick
start with the other having
to battle back. However, it
was the Vikings this time
that were able to take advantage
of New Trier miscues,
taking the 15-14 lead
on a New Trier service error
until the Trevians were
able to rally to make it a
19-all set.
However, another New
Trier service error gave the
Vikings a 21-20 lead, one
they wouldn’t relinquish.
The third set was, coincidentally,
almost identical
to the second, where a service
error broke a 19-all tie
and propelled the Vikings
to the set and match win.
The Trevians graduate
a majority of their roster,
one that was closer as a
team and became more so
as the season went along.
“This team, I love this
team, some of the best
girls in the school, in my
opinion are on this team,”
coach Hannah Hsieh said.
“They’re high-character
girls, live with integrity,
work hard and don’t need
to be told to work hard, it’s
just part of their nature.
“The level of commitment
they brought to this
team will be a huge mark
that they’re leaving on the
program.”
Hsieh was also proud of
the way her team handled
adversity, as the season
would be an up-and-down
one, consistency-wise.
“We talked about when
teams lose, that’s usually
when they fall apart and we
definitely had some tough
losses, but I didn’t have
to worry about that with
them,” she said. “They
were fully committed to
the team, they owned their
own mistakes, but knew it
wasn’t only one person.”
Even though the Trevians
do lose players like
Cat Flood, Bodman and
Britt Soudan, they bring
back talent in Stephanie
Mayer and Rose McDermott,
as well as others,
Flood and fellow senior
Grace Magner led the team
in kills against Fremd with
six kills, while Bodman
added five.
girls volleyball
Tough serving launches Loyola to regional title
Bill McLean
Freelance Reporter
Loyola Academy’s dress
code prevented its students
from donning a scary costume
on Halloween.
But it didn’t stop the
school’s girls volleyball
team from wearing out
Niles North by playing
frighteningly well in the
Class 4A Rolling Meadows
Regional final Thursday,
Oct. 31.
Loyola’s Ramblers
— behind eight aces, including
four from sophomore
outside hitter Mia
McGrath, and decisive
scoring runs in each set
— overwhelmed North’s
Vikings 25-11, 25-11 for
the program’s ninth regional
championship in
12 years and second under
second-year coach Mallory
Thelander.
“Everybody was energetic
tonight, and everybody
was on the same
page,” said a pleased Thelander,
whose top-seeded
club (29-7) faces fourthseeded
Glenbrook South
in a Maine East Sectional
semifinal Nov. 4 at 5:30
p.m.
“And we got contributions
from a number of
players.”
The 5-foot-11-inch Mc-
Grath set a super tone from
beyond a baseline, helping
the Ramblers take a 3-0
lead via her serves; she
notched her first ace for
the third point.
“We wanted to put pressure
on their serve-receive
and get off to a strong
start,” said McGrath,
whose clean ace — the
ball hit nothing but hardwood
in a deep corner —
widened LA’s advantage to
24-10 in the first set.
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 6 days ago
Ninth-seeded Niles
North (21-15) enjoyed
only one lead (5-4 in the
first set, after a 5-1 spurt)
all night and trailed 21-8
after LA had produced a
resounding 9-0 run in the
first set. A pair of aces
from senior setter Chloe
Tierney highlighted the
set-turning stretch.
A kill from junior middle
Jane Robertson gave
LA a 19-8 cushion and
prompted Vikings coach
Terri Vander Jeugdt to call
for a second timeout.
“Our serves kept
[North’s Vikings] out of
their system,” said Tierney,
who served eight of
the points during that 9-0
torrent. “Our team is intense
and focused; the
closeness of our players is
another strength.”
Ramblers senior middle
Jackie Yau pounded the
match’s most emphatic kill
to end the second point of
the second set. It followed
junior setter/right-side hitter
Sarine Kalayjian’s tipwinner.
Fifteen points later, LA
senior defensive specialist
Rosie Talaga catapulted
forward and hit the floor
hard to come up with the
dig of the match. Talaga’s
right arm skidded and appeared
to absorb the brunt
of the hustle play. But she
shook off the pain, as LA
won the point to secure an
11-6 lead.
McGrath struck two
more aces in the second
set, with the second — the
ball clipped the net tape
and trickled over — upping
the Ramblers’ chasm
to 17-7. LA scored its 19th
and 20th points on backto-back
kills from junior
hitters Josie Fronczak and
Marissa Lynch.
The 23rd point was a
lengthy rally, featuring
several impressive digs
from McGrath and Kalayjian.
LA won the entertaining
exchange and then
needed only two more
points to earn regional
hardware.
Junior defensive specialist
Meilani Calcutt
ended the match fittingly
with yet another ace.
“Deep serves, short
serves … our players hit
the serves to the right
spots,” said Thelander,
who guided her first Ramblers
squad to a Class 4A
supersectional last fall.
Robertson paced the
Ramblers’ attack with four
kills, followed by Yau, Kalayjian
and senior reserve
hitter Katy D’Arrigo with
three apiece. D’Arrigo
popped to put down consecutive
kills midway
through the first set and
hammered another to
make it 8-6, Loyola Academy,
in the second set.
“She puts it away, consistently,”
McGrath said.
“Katy,” Thelander added,
“has been stepping up
for us lately.”
McGrath (team-high
nine digs) and Fronczak
each contributed two kills;
Kalayjian also finished
with eight assists, one
ace and one block; and
D’Arrigo and Yau elevated
for a block apiece.
“We’re a strong team,
offensively and defensively,”
McGrath said. “We
showed that tonight.”
McGrath also shared the
name of her favorite candy.
It was, after all, Halloween.
“M&M’S,” said the
Rambler with the M.M.
initials.