Owusu helps Joliet Catholic past Bolingbrook

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:18PM

Thursday evenings volleyball match was a little more special for Joliet Catholic's Vanessa Owusu.

The senior outside middle hitter is from Bolingbrook and got the start against her hometown school. Owusu came up with a nice performance in game one and helped Joliet Catholic to a 25-13, 25-16 victory over Bolingbrook in the nonconference matchup in Joliet.

"Since I'm from Bolingbrook it feels real good," Owusu said. "I know a few girls on their team and played club ball with a couple of them. So it was special and it meant a lot."

Owusu, who missed the Angels big match against Minooka last week with an ankle injury, finished with four kills. All of them came in game one as Joliet Catholic subbed in everyone during game two.

"When playing against your hometown team it lifts your game," said Joliet Catholic coach Christine Scheibe of Owusu's performance. "It makes you go harder."

The win was the ninth in a row for Joliet Catholic (9-1), which has now won 59 of its last 61 matches dating back to October of 2008. Bolingbrook fell to 1-7, but just like in last years 25-17, 25-14 loss to the Joliet Catholic, the Raiders scraped and clawed to hang in the match.

"We ran our offense and played well enough to get the ball to our hitters," Scheibe said. "There were a couple of times we had balls down and they (Bolingbrook) dug them up. They made us work for our kills."

The Raiders had an early 2-1 lead in the opener before Joliet Catholic took the lead for good with a 14-3 burst for a 15-5 advantage. Five different Angel players had kills in the spurt, including Owusu and sophomore outside hitter Morgan Reardon (team high 6 kills) - who each had three kills in the run.

Bolingbrook did come back with a 6-1 run, including back-to-back kills by senior middle hitter Paige Reinert, of its own to cut the lead to 16-11. But that would be as close as the Raiders could get. Angel senior middle hitter Lainey Wyman (5 kills, 2 blocks) converted consecutive slide play kills in an 8-1 run.

Moments later Lauren Robertson rammed down the game winning attack. The Joliet Catholic junior right side hitter had four of her five kills in game one.

"It was a great feeling," said Robertson of the game ender. "With all our hitters, I was like 'wow, why me?' I had to take advantage and put it down."

While Robertson was excited to get the ball set to her in a situation like that, she also knows that goes along with the Angels team concept that has helped them to back-to-back class 3A state championships.

"I think losing a lot of people (six starters) from last season made us a little nervous," Robertson said. "But we work really well and mesh together."

That showed in game two as the Angels raced out to a 13-1 lead. The key was a service run of 10 straight points by junior outside hitter Kelly Feigh. She had four aces in the burst, including a let one that she hit so hard that it swayed the net as it hit the top of the tape and fell over.

Feigh finished with 12 service points, five aces and four digs in the match.

Trailing 14-2, the Raiders once again showed their scrappiness and didn't quit. Junior outside hitter Ciara Hill, who had all four of her kills in the second game, started a 12-7 mini-uprising with a big swing kill. Reinert had a pair of aces in the run, including one that drew Bolingbrook within 21-14.

Senior middle hitter Simone Silvera had a tip kill and junior outside hitter Imani Droogan added a kill in the run. Junior libero Jaela Hall had some nice digs and senior setter Emily Kramolicsh finished with eight assists for the Raiders, who never got closer than the late seven-point deficit in game two.

"The girls always look forward to this match," Bolingbrook coach Andrea Bercot said. "It's not going to get any tougher than Joliet Catholic. I tell the kids not to swing too hard, but also not to be too tentative.

"The excitement got the best of us, we made some unforced errors and Joliet Catholic is all over them. They're an awesome hitting team. The thing we need to do is find a middle ground and be consistent."

Angels senior outside hitter Kate Brown bashed an untouched kill to make it 24-16 and the match ended on a Bolingbrook hitting error. Joliet Catholic Junior libero Jill Hickey had four digs while the senior setting combo of Jordan Huston (7 assists) and Meredith Vertin (14) combined for 21 assists.

"We have a lot of options on the team and everyone knows their role," Owusu said. "We know we can't underestimate anyone and know we have to work hard every day."

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