Lyons’ Williams preps for Atlanta

Updated: June 6, 2011 7:48PM

Laura Williams is preparing to fill some pretty big shoes for Lyons’ girls volleyball team this fall.

Williams ranked second in kills last season for the Class 4A state champion. She is hard at work for her club team this spring preparing to take over much of the offense since Lyons kills leader Jocelynn Birks graduated and is off to Illinois this fall.

It’s a busy week for Williams. Summer camp for the high school team started earlier this week and Williams and her club team, Western Springs-based 1st Alliance 17 Silver, will compete in the Pre-Nationals tournament Saturday and Sunday at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora.

Her 17 Silver team was the only 1st Alliance team at the upper age levels to qualify for the U.S. Junior Nationals, which begins June 25 in Atlanta.

“This team has been a lot of fun,” said Williams, who is the only Lyons player on the team. “[Sunday] after practice, most of us got to go out for ice cream [together].”

The Duke-bound Williams, a 5-foot-10 senior-to-be, had 226 kills for Lyons (41-1) last season. Birks had nearly 450 kills, but since Birks was 6-3 few expect Williams to just step in and duplicate Birks’ season.

Williams’ 17 Silver club team features a pair of shorter-than-normal outside hitters with Williams and Western Michigan-bound Caroline Rose of York.

The 5-foot-8 Rose competed against Williams three times last season while with the Dukes, but Lyons won each meeting. The final match was Lyons’ state semifinal victory.

One of the challenges for the 17 Silver playing at the national level is how Williams and Rose will fare against bigger outside hitters on other teams.

The 1st Alliance team took fifth place in the National Junior Classic, also at the Great Lakes Center, with a revamped lineup. Starting middle hitter Lauren Zielinski, a 6-4 Marist student committed to South Carolina, missed the NJC and will he held out the rest of the club season due to a torn labrum in her shoulder. The 17 Silver might miss some offensive punch since Hinsdale South’s Melissa Nava, the right-side hitter, will move to her high school spot as middle hitter to fill Zielinski’s spot.

Two of Williams’ Lyons teammates, defensive specialist Megan Miller and Illinois-bound setter Alexis Viliunas, are playing for other 1st Alliance teams this spring.

The 17 Silver had to win a one-set playoff match as a tiebreaker at the NJC. Williams remembers playing late on Memorial Day and 1st Alliance and Nebraska Juniors were the last teams to play in an otherwise empty Great Lake Center facility.

“We were the last team at the gym and it was nine o’clock at night,” Williams said.

First Alliance qualified for the U.S. Junior Nationals with at least a top three finish at the Northern Lights Qualifier April 15-17 in Minneapolis.

“It was really exciting,” Williams said. “People underestimated our team at the beginning of the season, but that was our goal at the Northern Lights [qualifier].”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.