Providence takes Silver Division title

Updated: August 27, 2011 5:15PM

The goal for every team entering a tournament is to win the championship.

However, when that goal is erased, what’s next?

That was the hurdle facing the Providence girls volleyball team at the Plainfield North Invite Saturday in Plainfield.

An opening loss to eventual third-place finisher Rosary ended the Celtics’ chances of winning the 16-team title.

Providence ripped off fourth straight wins, including a 25-14, 25-17 victory over Marian Catholic in the championship game of the Silver Division.

“When you don’t make it into the Gold, your goal then is to go 4-1 and win the bracket and we did that, Providence coach Rachel Ellingson said.”

The serving combination of juniors Katie Urchell and Krista Brakauskas led the way against Marian Catholic.

They totaled 18 points and Brakauskas came up with 19 assists.

Most of those went to Alyssa Podwell (10 kills) and Nora Mitros (six kills). Podwell also had a team-best four blocks for the Celtics.

“This was a good opportunity to see what we have and we did that,” Ellingson said. “I put them in positions today that, maybe, they haven’t played a lot in practice and they adjusted well.”

Plainfield North reached the Bronze Division final, but lost to St. Charles North to finish 2-3 at its own tournament.

“We’re learning right now,” Plainfield North coach Tracey Marshall said. “It’s the beginning of the year, we’re young mentally and this is a good time to find out some things. We’re trying to find a lineup that works. It’s like spaghetti. We’re going to throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.”

Sophomore Dakota Santore had 31 kills and 46 digs during the tournament to lead the Tigers in both categories. In a 12-25, 27-25, 15-12 win over St. Charles North in the bracket semifinal, Santore had 14 kills and 17 digs.

Alyssa Bullock (30 kills) and Alison Kimmel (19 kills) also had productive tournaments as the Tigers try to figure out their roles.

“That’s the big thing,” Marshall said. “They have to figure out what their roles are and do the best they can with them.”

Plainfield Central went 1-4 at the tournament, beating Batavia 23-25, 25-22, 15-11 in the semifinal of the Copper Tournament.

Bolingbrook posted a 2-3 mark, winning the Copper Division title. The Raiders beat Oswego and Plainfield Central in bracket play. Joliet West won its last game of the tournament to go 1-4, taking third in the Copper Division.

“This was a very solid tournament and there was a lot of good competition here,” Marshall said.

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