Shannon Hagen, Victoria Swigart key Plainfield Central upset

Updated: October 25, 2011 8:38PM

When 6-foot-3 Metea Valley senior Jessica Boddy was in the lineup against Plainfield Central the Mustangs could do no wrong.

She changed the Wildcats’ offensive attack and provided big kills on quick middle hits.

But when Boddy was on the bench during natural rotation, it gave Plainfield Central a big opportunity.

The No. 9-seed Wildcats stunned the No. 6-seed Mustangs in two sets 25-22, 25-23 Tuesday night to win a Class 4A Plainfield Central Regional semifinal game.

The Wildcats will face No. 3-seed Neuqua Valley in Thursday’s 6 p.m. final.

Shannon Hagen had six kills and Victoria Swigart five for Plainfield Central, an upset winner by all accounts but its own.

“Metea was seeded sixth so we didn’t know what to expect, but they played hard,” Wildcats coach Jessica Clark said. “They really tested us and our girls just bounced back with some really big plays. It was nice to see them keep their composure through the entire game.”

Boddy finished with seven kills and a block, and senior Brianne Honda had five kills and 15 digs, but the Mustangs could not build on the early 16-11 lead they held in Game 1.

Plainfield Central (21-15) went on a 7-0 run to take control and Metea (24-10) never recovered.

“They’re pretty young in those rotations,” Metea coach James Milkert said. “We’ve been drilling them all season, but we needed to execute.

“I don’t want to take away anything from Plainfield Central because they played very well, but I imagine we gave them like 15 points on our mistakes. You can’t do that and we’ve done that all year. Some matches we were able to get out of it, but a regional match you’re not going to get out of it.”

Metea loses four seniors but hopes to gain from this playoff experience for years to come.

“We had a great year and we’re vastly better from last year,” Milkert said. “We just have to learn from this heartache and the sophomores and juniors use this pain so it won’t happen so early next year.”

© 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.