By Randy Whalen

How much growth and impact has the Joliet West girls' volleyball team had in the past two seasons?

That question was answered last week by Joliet West junior outside hitter Eden Eyassu. For the past two seasons, Eyassu has been on the Romeoville team. Now she's a Tiger.

"I thought Lincoln is a great coach," Eyassu said of Tiger girls volleyball coach Chris Lincoln. "My mom lives out here (in Joliet) so I made the switch."

Yes, last year as a member of the Romeoville varsity team, she helped the Spartans to a 26-11 record. She had 11 kills in a 25-19, 19-25, 25-21 early-season Southwest Prairie showdown victory over Joliet West on August 31 in Romeoville. 

That was the Tigers' only SPC loss of the season and one of only four losses that fall as they finished 36-4 and won a second straight sectional championship.

Now Eyassu is already helping Joliet West to continue where it left off last year and once again be a state power. The Tigers are 8-0 to open this season. One of those victories was by the score of 21-25, 25-22, 25-20 over Romeoville on Thursday, September 5 in the SPC opener for both teams in Joliet.

How did Eyassu feel beating her old team?

"It was a little weird playing against them," she said. "But it feels great. Give Romeoville credit. I used to play with (junior outside hitter) Lianna Ortiz and (senior setter) Kameron Blizniak and they did great."

They did but so did Eyassu, who stands 5-foot-11 and plays libero for her club team at Sports Performance. She did great too as she had nine kills, two blocks, two assists, and six digs.  

”She is a complete volleyball player," Lincoln said of Eyassu. "Even though she is a trained libero, she is a very dynamic outside. You usually see players transition from outside to libero, not the other way around. Eden is a fun kid to coach and a great addition to our team.” 

Without Eyassu, Romeoville (1-5, 0-1) is off to a rough start. But one wouldn't know it based on last week's match. The Spartans were fired up and scored the first seven points of the match, including a couple of aces from Blizniak, who had 23 assists.

Trailing 11-4, 16-9, and 19-14, the Tigers fought back to within 21-20. But a long serve and a kill by Ortiz, one of her match-high 15, helped Romeoville close out the opener. 

The Spartans jumped out 4-1 and 11-9 in the second set. The set see-sawed from there as Joliet West had a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 15-11. But Ortiz added a couple of blocks in a 5-0 Spartan spurt as they led 18-17. With the score tied at 22-22, the Tigers tamed their way to the set win as freshman outside hitter Lexie Grevengoed had a kill, defensive specialist Sydney Piazza, who is the only senior on the team, had an ace, and junior middle hitter Mady Gant garnered a block to end it.   

In the third set, it was the Tigers' turn to pull out a huge lead as they raced away to advantages of 6-0 and 9-1. Romeoville cut it to 12-9 on an ace by Ortiz but never got closer. A Grevengoed kill ended it.

"It was hard after the first set but we had to push back," Eyassu said. "We knew we could do it, we just had to be strong."

Romeoville was pumped to play its old teammate.

"Eden played well and she brought out the best in us," Romeoville coach Paige Reinert said. "We stepped up to the occasion and played great. It's a tough start but it's OK. We'll pick it up."

Freshman outside hitter Aubree Westerfield (8 kills, 3 aces), sophomore middle blocker Arianna Thomas (6 blocks), senior opposite side hitter Gaby Villanueva (5 blocks), and senior libero Alexis Crowley (18 digs) also contributed for the Spartans.

It was truly a team effort for Joliet West. Grevengoed led the way with 11 kills. Gant had five kills and six blocks. Junior setter/opposite side hitter Lina Govoni hammered three kills, three blocks, seven assists, and eight digs. Junior middle blocker Faith Jordan jolted four blocks and a kill, sophomore setter Julia Adams added 15 assists, two aces, and five digs, junior libero Sidney Barlog had 14 digs, and junior defensive specialist Lola Berta banged a trio of aces and added five digs for the Tigers. 

"It was amazing to get the last point," Grevengoed said of her final kill. "It was a tough match. We could have done better but we played hard and got our energy up at the end."

It was the home opener for Joliet West, which started the season on Wednesday, August 28 with a 25-22, 25-10 win over host Homewood-Flossmoor. The next day the Tigers traveled to New Lenox and toppled Lincoln-Way Central 26-24, 25-13. 

Last weekend, the Tigers traveled to the Conant/Fremd Peggy Scholten Early Bird Tournament and won it for the second straight season. They opened play on Friday evening, September 6 at Conant and defeated Schaumburg 25-15, 25-12, St. Charles East 25-19, 20-25, 15-10, and Lake Zurich 25-19, 25-22 in pool play. 

Then on Saturday, September 7, Joliet West won the semifinal 25-20, 25-13 over Fremd (7-5). In the title match, the Tigers toppled St. Francis 25-17, 22-25, 25-23 in a rematch of last season's final at Fremd.  

In the finale, Grevengoed had 12 kills and seven digs, Govoni gashed nine kills and added eight blocks, junior opposite side hitter Emma Salerno slammed seven kills, Eyassu contributed four kills and nine digs, and Gant had three blocks. Also, Adams added 17 assists Govoni had 13 assists, and Barlog had nine digs.

St. Francis (5-2) is the two-time defending Class 3A State Champions. 

Jordan was named Tournament MVP, while Gant and Grevengoed were named All-Tournament.

Grevengoed has stepped in as a freshman and continued in the tradition of her older sister, Ava, who was a star player for the Tigers. Ava holds Joliet West High School’s record for most kills in a season and leads the All-Time career kills list with 1,179 kills and earned IVCA All-State honors her junior (Second Team) and senior (First Team) years. She's now playing at Northern Illinois University.

But don't compare the younger Grevengoed to her older sister.

"It feels great and I love everyone on the team," Lexie Grevengoed said. "Everyone was very welcoming and I feel like I'm fitting in. But if they call me Ava's little sister, I get mad. I'm me."

Yes, she is and the Tigers are happy to have her.

"The only thing about her that is 'freshman' is the label on the roster," Lincoln said of Grevengoed. "She plays with the composure and confidence of an upperclassman.“ 

After graduating nine seniors from last year's team, question marks were there coming into this fall. But this season's Joliet West squad is playing with confidence and composure. 

“This team is a lot of fun to coach," Lincoln said. "There is a bond that I do not have to worry about. They have fun and know that they need each other. We know we have to work on some things, but they’re ready to make their own mark, just as the class did before them”