Bolingbrook Volleyball Drops Conference Opener to Stagg

Unforced errors and a failure to maintain momentum doomed the Bolingbrook High School girls volleyball team Thursday as the Raiders suffered a loss in their first conference game of the season.

Bolingbrook led just three times in the match en route to a 25-15, 25-22 two-game sweep to Stagg High School.

The Raiders were afforded chance after chance to capitalize on either a big play of their own or a mistake by the visiting Chargers. But every time, the Raiders would follow up their fortune with an untimely mistake of their own.

"We had a lot of unforced errors at the wrong time," said Raiders head coach Andrea Bercot. "We would have a really amazing play and then go and mess it up with a bad serve that would kill the momentum. And especially when you are playing sideout volleyball, where it can go either way, you can't be in that position."

Shannan Sisk, head coach of the Chargers, said Stagg didn't play much better.

"It was a sloppy match for us, too," she said. "I expected to come in more crisp."

The two teams opened the first game in back-and-forth style, exchanging leads three times until Stagg capitalized on an eight-point run to lead the Raiders 12-6.

During that span, the Raiders made three errors that could have stopped the Chargers' rally.

Bolingbrook would eventually close the gap to a 16-12 deficit.

But again, errors got the best of the Raiders.

This time, Bolingbrook committed five straight unforced errors that gave Stagg a 21-12 lead and put the first game out of reach for good.

Bercot said the Raiders struggled to find consistency because of a new lineup that the team is playing around with. Using two new setters, Bercot said the new lineup messed with the team's psyche.

"In the first game, we were a little bit at a disadvantage because of that new lineup," she said. "They were still feeling each other out and getting comfortable with each other."

But game two featured much of the same as the Raiders continued to struggle when opportunity raised its head.  Eventually, Bolingbrook would go on to lose a much closer game 25-22, losing the match outright.

Bolingbrook was lead by four kills apiece by senior middle hitter Paige Reinert and sophomore outside hitter Ciara Hill. The Raiders also benefited from the play of juniors setter Morgan Reinert and  right side hitter Jaela Hall, who each chipped in six assists.

The Raiders return to the court Tuesday when they travel to Victor J. Andrew High School to take on the Thunderbolts at 6 p.m.