Girls Volleyball: Plainfield Central outlasts Neuqua Valley

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Allie Clarke (17) and Leighanne Novak (13) of Neuqua Valley try to block a spike by Emily Obradovich (14) of Plainfield Central. | Jon Cunningham~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: November 29, 2011 8:20AM

Who knows what Neuqua Valley’s girls volleyball team could do if it could only win a regional title?

For the seventh year in a row, the Wildcats, who were seeded third in the sectional, lost in the regional championship match, this time to ninth-seeded Plainfield Central, the regional host, 25-22, 25-20.

It was the second straight upset in the tournament for Central (22-15) and it will be its first trip to the sectional since 2001.

“We didn’t have many point runs,” Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. “If we could have strung more points together we would have gotten some momentum. We were even with them in earned points in Game 1 with 19, and they had one more than us in Game 2, 15-16.”

Despite her disappointment with the loss, Simon was pleased her team kept it close in both games and fought hard until the end.

“We’ve had peaks and valley this year, and despite that we stayed unified as a team,” Simon said. “We had great leadership and stepped up in the homestretch of the season. We were hoping to move on to sectionals. This is where it has ended for us in recent years.”

Simon gave Plainfield Central a lot of credit for an outstanding match.

“They made few errors,” she said. “They were really solid and they executed very well.”

Foremost among the Central attackers was Erin Hyland, who had a great all-around night with 13 kills, four blocks and seven digs.

“Erin showed her true colors tonight,” Central coach Jessica Clark said. “She’s the heart and soul of our team. I think our team was under-estimated by the seeding committee.”

“Our offense as on fire,” said Hyland, who put down kills that gave her team the lead for good in both games. “When a hitter went up for the ball we knew it was going down. This game is all mental. I’m tired and this is the last game I’ll ever play on this court. But, this win means we’ll keep swinging.”

Victoria Swigart had seven kills for Central.

Callie Huebener was the Neuqua Valley kills leader with seven, while Taylor McKeown added six. Leighanne Novak had four kills and two blocks.