ELGIN -- More than anything, South Elgin coach Joni Melahn was just happy that her team got to experience what winning a regional title felt like.
Melahn -- a 1998 Larkin graduate and standout on the '97 Royals volleyball team that went 32-1-1 with a regional title -- returned to the west side on Saturday afternoon and coached the No. 2 seed Storm to a 25-11, 25-21 win over No. 1 seed Elgin in the title match of the Larkin Class 4A Regional for the program's first regional plaque.
"I'm really so proud for the girls," Melahn said. "So proud that they get to experience this because it means a lot. If we couldn't be at South Elgin, there's really no other place I'd want to be playing right now. I showed the girls my regional title (in the hallway) and they all laugh at my picture out there."
The Maroons (11-23) and Storm (15-18-1) split two meetings this season, but it was all South Elgin this time around.
The Storm didn't have to do anything flashy, it just played fundamentally well and took advantage of numerous Elgin mistakes. Of South Elgin's 50 total points, 28 came from a combination of service (10) and hitting errors (18).
South Elgin jumped to a 9-1 lead in the first set and never looked back.
Senior Alyssa Krause had four of her match-high eight kills in the first set as part of a taller front row.
"We started off the season kinda rough and we're starting to come together," Krause said. "This shows that we came into this match ready to play and were gonna do whatever it took to win."
Elgin came out more aggressive in the second set and built a 13-9 lead.
After a timeout, the Storm tied it at 13 and continued to take advantage of Elgin errors toward the end of the set. Tied at 19, Elgin had a service error and two straight hitting errors and eventually fell behind 23-19.
"Mis-serves -- it's the momentum shift," said Elgin coach Keith Foster. "Losing that serve and trying to get it back, it's a big deal. We took advantage of their serve-receive last time we played them in conference and beat them. We couldn't do it this time because our serving broke down."
Danielle Lawry led the Maroons with seven kills. Abbey Houde had 13 assists and Lindsey Hedl added six digs.
Laura Balance had three kills, five digs and an ace for South Elgin. Courtney Sanocki had 16 assists.
South Elgin moves on to the Huntley Sectional where it will play Cary-Grove (33-4) in a semifinal match at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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