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Defensive changes guide Guerin past Westinghouse
Updated: October 25, 2012 9:26PM
RIVER GROVE — Guerin showed why it most resembles a chameleon.
The No. 4 Gators (17-13) altered their defense and secured their second straight regional championship with a 25-17, 25-8 victory against No. 5 Westinghouse (17-4) Thursday at home.
After watching the Lady Warriors win their semifinal match, Guerin head coach Dominic DiSilvio realized he needed to make a change for the title game and was more than pleased with the outcome.
“That was my biggest concern because we’ve never really played a rotational defense before, but they understood what they were supposed to do,” said DiSilvio. “We had a couple glitches, which is fine, but nothing to take away from Westinghouse — they’re an excellent team, very athletic and they’re very good.”
After going back and forth in the early stages of the opening game, Guerin jumped out to a 20-10 advantage.
Westinghouse punched back and exploited a spot where the Gators know must change before sectionals.
“It was probably because of our little mistakes, like not calling the ball,” said senior Alex Bojan. “Communication is definitely something we need to work on, but I think it’s all coming together.”
The Gators then regrouped and closed out the first game before finishing off the second game in a quicker pace.
Serving propelled the Gators to their big leads.
Bojan, along with senior Sara Brodner and juniors Rebecca Bartnicki and Kathleen Sweeney, were a combined 38-for-40 from the service line with 10 aces.
Sweeney went 41-for-43 passing and made 11 assists. Along with her two aces, Bojan led the Guerin offense with four kills. Bartnicki was a perfect 11-for-11 from the line and added three kills.
For the Lady Warriors, senior outside hitter Erica Johnson connected with two kills and juniors Ashley DeJesus and Lakendra Worthy each earned one kill.
“They played hard, but we definitely lost due to our mistakes,” said Westinghouse head coach Amanda Pletsch. “I don’t think we were mentally ready today. I feel like they were nervous and excited so then they were thinking about winning the game instead of going out and playing like a team.”
The Gators will travel to the Orr sectional and face No. 1 Latin in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Pick up your local Pioneer Press newspaper on Nov. 1 to read more about the New Trier and Maine South volleyball teams.
