Anderson’s efforts enough for Hinsdale South

Updated: September 8, 2011 8:26PM

A little diversity can go a long way, as the Hinsdale South girls volleyball team demonstrated Thursday night.

Junior setter Sharon Anderson divvied up 23 assists among six different hitters, four of whom had at least four kills as the host Hornets eased past Waubonsie Valley 25-20, 25-22 in a nonconference match in Darien.

Outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn led all players with eight kills for Hinsdale South, while middle hitter Melissa Nava added seven kills and two blocks. But the Hornets (5-4) also received six kills from right side hitter Rachel Kent and four kills and two blocks from middle Alecia Kroeker.

“I try to mix it up so the blockers don’t just sit on Jessie or don’t just sit on Melissa,” Anderson said. “[That way] we can spread out and make holes in the block.”

That enabled the Hornets to prevail even though they were not at their most dominant and the Warriors (5-6) played their best match of the season, with only six hitting errors and four service mistakes.

“They have a lot of depth,” Waubonsie Valley coach Kristen Stuart said. “Obviously Nava and Brezwyn are their go-tos, but their second middle is very good. They have consistent hitters all around. They didn’t have a lot of weaknesses to pick on.”

That spelled trouble late in both games, which were tight throughout. The Hornets closed the opener on a 9-4 run, with Kroeker, a senior transfer from Nebraska, coming up with a kill and two blocks and Brezwyn a kill before a dump by Nava clinched it.

Hinsdale South never led by more than three points in the second set. The Warriors tied it at 20-20 on an ace by Danielle Vandenberg and at 22-22 on a Brittany Rampersad kill, but the Hornets scored the last three points on a tip by Kent, an ace from Catherine Pinas and a block by Nava.

“Waubonsie’s got a couple good kids,” Hinsdale South coach Lisa Martinez said. “Lisa Studnicka [who had six hills] on the outside did a great job for them, but I feel we should be a little bit more diverse and we started off that way and then we sort of let things go.

“We’re just squeaking by. We need to be better. The talent, the diversity, all that’s there. It’s why do you not have that hunger to go out there and just beat a team.”

Anderson agrees with that assessment and is also searching for answers.

“We can definitely play better,” Anderson said. “I felt like we just broke down. I don’t really know why. We made little dumb errors here and there and those started to add up.

“It wasn’t really like one specific thing. It was more just like the little things that we have to work on.”

With only four returning players, Waubonsie Valley has a lot to work on, but Stuart was thrilled with her squad’s performance.

“I just told them I know we lost but that’s the best match we’ve played so far this year,” Stuart said. “That’s been our most complete match. We’ve played other teams and lost to teams that weren’t as good as Hinsdale South is. They’re a very solid team and I think we haven’t challenged as much as we did tonight. We were pretty much smooth throughout the whole match and that was very good to see.”

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