Joliet West impresses in win
Updated: September 8, 2011 8:15PM
With six victories through its first eight matches, including an impressive 25-11, 25-17 road win Thursday over Joliet West, senior Katie Urchell is confident that Providence’s girls volleyball team is on the right path.
“It’s probably the best season I’ve been on so far,’’ Urchell said. “I think we have great potential to do well and get far in the state tournament.’’
Urchell, one of four returning starters from 2010, played a key role in both games against Joliet West and finished with eight kills and kills digs. Urchell recorded two of Providence’s final kills in the second game thanks to a simple formula.
“There’s good passes and then good sets, and you’re able to get the kills from the good passes and sets,’’ Urchell said.
“A lot of people overlook Urchell,’’ Providence coach Rachel Ellingson said of the 5-foot-8 outside hitter. “She’s calm, cool, not a lot of emotion. She’s a nice player.’’
Also making important contributions for Providence were Krista Brakauskas (23 assists, 4 digs), Alyssa Podwell (5 kills, 3 blocks), Katelyn O’Grady (8 digs) and Nora Mitros (5 kills in Game 1).
“It was a good team effort,’’ Urchell said. “We played a smart game and worked together. We had a lot of different lineups going on. We have a lot of depth with the bench and everyone is able to go in and play their part.’’
“They did some good things,’’ Ellingson said. “We got everyone in tonight. We’ve been blessed with having a lot of players who can do a lot of different things.’’
Joliet West (1-8) was led by Courtney Robinson (18 digs, 2 aces), Taylor Hallow (8 digs), Katie Brick (8 assists) and Alisha Tuning (12 digs, 2 kills).
West had an 8-7 lead in the opener when Providence went on an 18-3 run.
“Their talent and our inconsistency,’’ Joliet West coach Alan Mart said of the Game 1 loss. “Our serve-receive sort of let us down. We started making unforced errors. A good team like them are going to sense the kill.
“Game 2, I thought we fought a lot harder. We competed much better down the stretch. We need to learn to control our unforced errors and when we get opportunities to make plays, we need to make them.’
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