Plainfield sends swimmers to state meet

The Plainfield co-op girls swim team is sending swimmers to the state met after placing fifth at the Neuqua Valley Sectional last weekend with 148 points.

Oswego East won the meet with 240 points, followed by Neuqua Valley (231), Rosary (159) and Naperville Central (154).

In the 200-yard freestyle, senior Jessica Davis finished second in the sectional in 1 minute, 51.02 seconds, while senior Kali Franckowiak was third in 1:51.67.

Davis also advanced in the 100 freestyle (51.78), while Franckowiak will swim at state in the 500-free (5:02.99).

Junior Karly Sonnenberg advanced in the 50 freestyle in 24.18 seconds.

Samantha Kershner, a senior, qualified in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.17.

Sonnenberg, Kershner, Franckowiak and Davis teamed up to qualify in both the 200 freestyle (1:35.73) and 400 freestyle (3:31.23) relays.

ST. FRANCIS

Three University of St. Francis women’s volleyball student-athletes received All-Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) recognition for the 2019 season as announced Nov. 16.

Lauren Stefanski (JR/Plainfield, Ill.) and Brooklyn Withey (JR/Lapeer, Mich.) both earned a spot on the All-CCAC First Team while Taylor Valant (JR/St. Anne, Ill.) was named to the second team.

The all-conference first and second-team squads were comprised of 14 student-athletes apiece. Indiana South Bend’s Hannah Marchand and Trinity Christian’s Dani Van Laten were recognized as co-CCAC Players of the Year while Dani Van Laten of Trinity Christian repeated as the league’s Setter of the Year and her teammate, Brianna Figueroa received Libero of the Year accolades. Bella Kuechenberg of Indiana Northwest claimed Freshman of the Year honors and Trinity Christian’s head coach Bill Schepel was awarded Coach of the Year recognition as the Trolls won both the CCAC Regular-Season and Tournament titles.

Lauren Stefanski made an immediate impact for USF this season as she paced the Saints in several statistical categories. The middle hitter registered a team-leading 129 total blocks, which included squad bests in both solo blocks (48) and block assists (81) in 33 matches. She also posted a team-high .383 attack percentage with a squad second-most 316 kills in 687 hitting attempts. A two-time (Sept. 17 and 24) CCAC Attacker of the Week selection this fall, Stefanski tallied double-digit kills in 15 matches this season, which included seven of her last eight outings. The Loyola of Chicago transfer led the CCAC in both hitting percentage and total blocks while ranking fourth among the national leaders in hitting percentage and tied for 21st in blocks.

A three-time (2017-19) All-CCAC pick, Brooklyn Withey hammered a team third-most 307 kills and averaged 2.24 kills a set while hitting at a .150 clip. The middle hitter also placed second on the squad in both digs (366 total) and service aces (39) while her 48 total blocks represented the team’s fourth highest output. Withey, a 2018 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Mideast Region Team selection and a first-team all-conference honoree, also produced 12 solo blocks and notched a squad fourth-most 36 block assists as a starter in 31 of 35 matches played in. Withey, who was a 2017 All-CCAC Second-Team member, paced USF with nine double doubles (kills and digs) and claimed double-digit kills in 16 matches this season.

Taylor Valant hammered a squad-best 331 kills in 35 contests this season, which included 27 as a starter. She averaged a team-best tying 2.43 kills per set and produced a .211 hitting percentage for the season. Valant chalked up five double-doubles for the 2019 season and posted double-digit kills in 18 contests. She also tallied eight double-digit dig performances and accumulated 212 digs to go with 30 total blocks, which included 27 block assists, and nine service aces on the season. Valant was named to the 2019 Indiana East Red Wolves Invitational All-Tournament Team.

USF concluded the 2019 season with a 21-14 overall record, which included a fifth-place 12-6 CCAC mark. The Saints, under 18th-year head coach Cara Currier, registered the 32nd winning season this fall in the program’s 39-year history and qualified for the CCAC Postseason Tournament.

LEWIS

Lewis’ 12th ranked women’s volleyball team will take on Illinois Springfield in the opening round of the GLVC Volleyball Tournament on Friday (Nov. 23) at 2:30 p.m. at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Ill.

The Flyers will be the second seed in the tournament while the Prairie Stars earned the seven seed.

Other opening round matches include: sixth seeded Bellarmine taking on third seeded Missouri-St. Louis at 11:30 a.m. Fifth seeded Drury will take on fourth seeded Indianapolis at 5:30 p.m. and eighth seeded Missouri S&T will take on the top seed and defending GLVC champion Rockhurst in the final match of the day at 8:30 p.m.

The winner of the first two matches meet in the first semifinal on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., and the other semifinal contest will be that evening at 5:30 p.m. The championship match takes place on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m.

Lewis seeks its 11th GLVC title in school history and third in the last five years. The Flyers have won the most GLVC titles in the history of the league. Last year they advanced to the semifinals where they wered defeated by Rockhurst.

Illinois Springfield finished the regular season with a record of 19-13 and was 8-7 in the GLVC. It was tied for seventh in the GLVC standings with S&T but won the tiebreaker over the Miners because of their head-to-head win.

In their first meeting this season, Lewis defeated the Prairie Stars 3-1 in Romeoville, Ill.

UIS won the opening set 25-18 but the Flyers came back to win the next three by scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-19. Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) led Lewis with 20 kills in the contest while Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) added 13 and Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) finished with 12 kills.

Ticket prices for the GLVC Tournament are as follows: $10 for adults, $5 for students with a college ID, $5 for seniors (65+) and $5 for youth (6+). Children ages five and under will be admitted for free. An all-tournament pass will also be available for $25.