Volleyball: Lack of height not a big deal for Lockport
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media September 10, 2012 8:22PM
Updated: October 12, 2012 6:04AM
With no player on its roster taller than 5-foot-11, Lockport is far from the tallest team around.
What the Porters may lack in height they make up for in athletic ability at the net and on the outsides.
“We focus on being explosive,” Lockport coach Erika Lange said. “Sometimes that can get you through (the lack of height). With blocking, all you need to do is get your hand over the net so if you can do that, you don’t need to be 6-foot-3. It’s more about being explosive, athletic and fast so that’s what we focus on.”
The Porters won’t be intimidating anyone across the nets, but opponents are quickly finding out how difficult it can be to slow down this team. Aubrey Ficek, Katie Tabisz, Amanda MacNab, Kayla Pfeiffer, Gabby Martinez and Amber Stefanski all are capable hitters on the outside and at the net.
Giving Lockport more depth, Tabisz and Pfeiffer share setting duties. Tabisz played last season as a middle, but her versatility allows Lange to field a two-setter offensive attack.
“Katie is probably our most dynamic blocker, but we need her at setter to give us more offensive weapons,” Lange said.
Ficek (7 kills), MacNab (6), Tabisz (4) and Pfeiffer (4) led the way in a two-set win at Morris.
The right combo for Morris
Morris coach Jackie Litwiller is finding out firsthand that depth can be a very good and very bad thing to deal with.
“This is a deep squad, and we’ve got a lot of good players,” Litwiller said. “It’s just finding that combination that will get it done night in and night out. It’s a good-bad problem we haven’t had before. I’m finding it’s a tricky area we’re treading in now.”
Three seniors — outside Kendall Korte, setter Katie Chatten, and middle Laney Torkelson — have been fixtures in the Redskins starting lineup.
Historic win for Bengals
Having defeated Plainfield South in its Southwest Prairie opener, Plainfield East capped an impressive week with a three-set win at Minooka.
The Bengals had lost all 10 previous match-ups with Minooka over the past five seasons.
