By Randy Whalen
Special to Illprepvb.com
Marist weathered the storm.
Playing their first home match of the season on their refurbished court, the RedHawks made sure it was a good one with a 25-23, 25-11 victory Wednesday over Joliet West.
Taylor Berg banged a match-high 11 kills and added a pair of aces, Savanah Weathers added 7 kills, 3 blocks, 5 digs and 2 aces, and freshman setter Haven Enselman continued to impress with 22 assists.
It all added up to a nice victory for Marist (9-0) over a very good Joliet West (12-2) team.
“I feel like we are really scrappy this year,” Weathers said. “Especially since we don’t have a lot of height. So we have to go out and give it our all.
“It’s really exciting that everyone can get kills. It was really cool playing on a new floor. We wanted to show our fans what we can do and have a good day.”
Weathers had 241 kills last season, finishing just behind Bella Bullington (244 kills). But Bullington, who is now at Northwestern, was one of seven seniors who graduated from last season’s IHSA Class 4A championship team.
“Last year, we knew Bella was there,” said Marist coach Jordan Vidovic. “Now, when you know she’s not there, everyone else has to step up. Our setters trust that and know they can do their thing.”
The opening set was close, but was including close to a record for net violations as the RedHawks had five and Joliet West had four and a rotation error. After four straight ties to open the set, Marist had a 4-0 run to go up 8-4 and maintained a 4-point advantage much of the way.
Trailing 21-16, the Tigers chipped away and twice cut it to 2 points on kills by sophomore outside hitter Lexie Grevengoed (8 kills), the last time at 24-22. But a kill by junior outside hitter Maggie Kurpeikis (4 kills) ended the opener.
“Since they won state, we came in and played our hardest in the first set and only lost by three points,” Grevengoed said. “All the players on Marist connect very well. We just have to keep fighting and learn from this.”
Joliet West had an early 3-1 lead in the second set. Then it was all RedHawks as they went on a 15-2 blitz for a 16-5 lead. Weathers had a kill and two aces, and Berg banged two kills and a pair of aces in the burst.
With her team leading 22-11, Berg bashed a trio of kills to cap it off.
“It felt amazing,” said Berg, a junior outside hitter. “I had so much adrenaline. A new court, a new season, and a new team.”
And a new setter.
“Yes, at first it was a little scary,” Berg said. “But that’s because we were used to having a four-year setter like Maddie Berry there. Haven was new to the school and new to the team. But to say she’s done phenomenal is an understatement.”
Middle blocker Cassidy Cage had 4 kills and 2 blocks, libero Elayna Davidson contributed 8 digs, and defensive specialist Elise Bocanegra dug 8 balls for the RedHawks.
Setter/rightside hitter Lina Govoni had 5 kills and 7 assists for Joliet West. Sophomore outside hitter Na’Riah Autman added 3 kills, junior setter Julia Adams passed out 13 assists and had 5 digs, and libero Eden Eyassu added 7 digs.
“It was a lot of unforced errors for us, and Marist was pretty feisty on defense,” said Joliet West coach Chris Lincoln. “We’ve played a lot of volleyball in a short amount of time.
“Marist is clean and consistent. This is the first time we’ve played them, and it shows our flaws and what we have to work on.”