Katie Day leads York past Riverside-Brookfield for Class 4A regional championship

Katie Day, York

ELMHURST โ€“ For a York girls volleyball season that could have plenty of question marks, junior third-year starter Katie Day quickly found an exclamation point.

โ€This, by far, is my favorite team. I think itโ€™s the energy. Itโ€™s the determination,โ€ Day said. โ€Everybody has this subtle competitive drive, whether itโ€™s competing for themselves or the team. Itโ€™s persistent. Every practice, every game, everyone wants to win. Itโ€™s a great environment. Iโ€™m grateful that I get to play with them.โ€

The No. 2-seeded Dukes fed off that reserve energy often Thursday to defeat determined No. 7 Riverside-Brookfield 25-23, 25-19 and win the Class 4A York Regional title.

York (26-11), which captured its second regional in three years, advances to the Willowbrook Sectional semifinals Tuesday against No. 3 Downers Grove South (24-13). York won their Sept. 23 meeting in two sets. Both sets were battles. The first was tied 19-19 and York led the Bulldogs (25-12) in the second 18-15.

โ€I thought in the early part of both sets we missed a lot of serves and then towards the end we came up big in hitting our zones and getting them out of system,โ€ said York coach Danny Piwowarczyk, whose team had 12 aces with seven errors.

โ€[Our players] really stepped up to the plate and our hitting really came up big. Weโ€™re a young team but [Day and setter Amalia Toliopoulos] have been stalwarts. And [seniors Emily Roach, Ava Nawrocki and Emilie Zitek] also came up big.โ€

Amalia Toliopoulos, York

Day, who leads York with 282 kills, had eight along with 11 digs. Fellow third-year varsity junior Toliopoulos (20 assists, 8 digs), Roach (4 kills) and Nawrocki (2 aces, 3 digs) also excelled along with freshmen Eileen Carroll (7 kills, 6 digs) and Lila Bennis (5 digs, 4 aces, 7 service points) and sophomore Emma Braathen (3 aces, 5 points), a postseason callup.

The Dukes combine a veteran core with numerous freshmen and varsity newcomers. Thirteen players saw action Thursday.

โ€Right off the bat we really bonded as a team. We were all competitive. Every drill was going 100%,โ€ Toliopoulos said. โ€œWe just play together so phenomenally and I feel like that showed tonight a lot. We work hard at practice and that really feeds into the games.โ€

Roachโ€™s four kills were among Yorkโ€™s final 10 points between the sets. Bennis served five straight points in the first set and Braathen four straight in the second for a 22-15 lead. Carroll had kills for game point in the first set and the Dukesโ€™ first match point at 24-17.

โ€[Piowarczyk] had this [pre-season lineup] idea in his head. Itโ€™s worked out pretty well,โ€ Day said. โ€œWith [Bennis and Carroll], there was definitely some gray area but theyโ€™ve done an amazing job. Theyโ€™ve beyond exceeded that expectation.โ€

R-B was paced by seniors Sofia Owens (2 kills, 4 blocks, ace) and libero Aimee DiBattista (8 digs), juniors Lucy Boyle (5 kills, 6 digs) and Claire Cameron (10 assists) and sophomore Mackenzie Sloger (2 kills, 4 aces, 10 points, 5 digs), whose four straight points tied the first set at 19.

The Bulldogs had their greatest season since their last regional title in 2016. That included a 6-0 run to the Upstate Eight East Division title in their conference debut.

Four-year starter Owens surpassed 200 kills for her highest single-season total. Like York, many key players are underclassmen.

โ€Iโ€™m not disappointed. We came ready to go. I think we gave up too many strings of points and played the catch-up game. Thatโ€™s hard. You donโ€™t have enough energy to finish,โ€ third-year R-B coach Caitlin Staib-Lipinski said. โ€Our goal for the season was for people to see us as a threat. That definitely shows how these girls have changed the program.โ€