Regional victory makes Foxes' month

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YORKVILLE -- With less than 30 hours left in the month of October, the Foxes won their first game of the month by defeating Sandwich 25-13, 25-4 in a Class 3A Yorkville Regional semifinal Thursday.

Third-seeded and host Yorkville will take on top-seeded Morris in the regional championship match at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"I believe if we can just do what we do, we can do some pretty special things," Yorkville coach Mike Dunn said of his 3-27 team.

After struggling most of the season in the perennially difficult Western Sun Conference, Yorkville took all its hard-earned lessons and put them to the test on its home court.

"Even though we struggled and didn't win a conference match, I really believed that if we play our best volleyball at the end of the year, we can do some good things," Dunn said.

After battling back and forth for the first few points of game one, the Foxes were able to settle in and work as a team. With the score tied at 11, Sandwich's Sam Leigh served up five consecutive points. Dunn then called a timeout to recalibrate his squad.

"I told them, 'We need to clean up our side of the net and eliminate our mistakes and unforced errors,'" he said.

When play resumed, Sonja Gilbertson served up four points for Yorkville.

"They weren't playing the way they normally do," Indians coach Mindy Davidson said of her players. "They kind of just stopped."

Tiffany Nawa finished the game with six consecutive points to give the Foxes the victory.

"We all wanted it so bad," she said.

Pumped up by a Game 1 victory and spirited fans, Yorkville dominated Game 2 from the start. Nawa picked up where she left off and gave the Foxes an early 4-0 lead.

"Anytime you can get fans at home, it is an advantage," Dunn said.

Junior Megan Grandchamp also scored four consecutive points before Katrina Donarski finished the match with a string of nine straight, three of which were aces.

"We stepped it up big time," Donarski said.

"Sandwich is a good team and they have experience," Dunn said. "They scared us and we had to come ready to play and we did. I am very, very proud of these girls."

Nawa paced Yorkville with 15 assists. Junior Alex Nelson led the team with five kills.

The Indians finish with a 9-17-2 record.

Morris defeated Kankakee 25-20, 24-14 earlier in the evening. The regional champion will advance to the Sterling Sectional.

"It is a big accomplishment," Nawa said. "To come out and win at regionals is a big confidence booster."