Chargers take advantage of good fortune to close out regional semifinal, create matchup with Raiders

WARSAW, Ill. — As AJ Cook’s serve took what seemed like an eternity to creep over the net, the Illini West volleyball team held its collective breath.

“I was just praying that it would hit,” Cook said.

Cook was tasked with a pivotal serve in the second set of Tuesday’s Class 2A Warsaw Regional semifinal against Knoxville. The Chargers and Blue Bullets were tied at 21, with the former just four points from punching their ticket to the regional title match and the latter trying to extend the match to a third set.

The Chargers senior defensive specialist did not serve it where she intended, but fortune was on her side. The serve hit the tape at the top of the net with force and tumbled to the other side. Illini West finished the deal four points later and advanced to Thursday’s regional championship against top-seeded Quincy Notre Dame with a 25-21, 25-21 victory.

“I was relieved,” Cook said. “I was holding my breath that entire time. When it dropped on their side, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”

Chargers coach Sawyer Johnson was just as relieved on the sideline.

“Those are the ones where your heart skips a beat,” Johnson said. “You’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ You let out a sigh of relief.”

The Chargers had to scratch and claw on their way to winning both sets. The Chargers took an 8-7 lead in the first set by winning a rally that featured multiple desperation saves on both sides and lasted upwards of 90 seconds. After that point, the set was tied 10 more times.

Chargers setter Corin Robinson committed a double hit violation that gave the Blue Bullets a 21-20 lead, but Johnson said the Chargers’ ability to leave those mistakes in the past proved to be a pivotal factor in winning the set and the match, as evidenced by the 5-0 run Illini West went on after that double hit.

“Mental toughness has been the big thing lately,” Johnson said. “For a long time, we had a hard time after mistakes. There’d be one mistake, then there’d be five more mistakes before we were like, ‘OK, we can get something rolling.’ Something we’ve been focusing on is being able to make a mistake and saying, ‘It’s OK, we’re just going to come back and get the next point.’”

Even though the Chargers won in straight sets, Cook said the match was physically demanding, that long, grueling point in the first set notwithstanding.

“I was out of breath for the next 10 points,” Cook said. “In my head, I was like, ‘Don’t mess up, don’t mess up.’ If I knew it was going to come to me, I was like, ‘Please pass it up, please pass it up.’”

Despite being out of breath, Cook said the jolt a team gets from winning a point like that equals the momentum of winning several points in a row.

“Those are so fun to play,” Cook said. “It’s really exciting when you get the point after those really long rallies because the momentum is shifted completely, and you’re pumped up for the next play because you just did that much work to get the point.”

Johnson said the Chargers put together a stellar defensive effort against powerful hitters like Lexi Harshbarger and Holly Brown.

“They have some really good hitters that can get on top of the ball and get it down. We knew we had to be strong on that outside block, and the girls did a really good job of executing that. We had some great digs off some really hard hits, so it just worked out some of those times.”

Senior libero Kate DeSotel contributed to that defense with nine digs. She joined Cook, Reagan Reed and Abi White as the four Chargers with at least nine pickups.

“It was pretty tough,” DeSotel said. “We were able to read their hits better than we have in the past. They had some really good hitters, and we had some really good digs off of them. Once we had one good dig, we knew, ‘Oh wait, we can do this.’”

DeSotel contributed the several long point to the Chargers’ scrappiness.

“Our serve receive was really good tonight,” DeSotel said. “Our defense and picking up balls, I thought we were really scrappy.”

Illini West (28-8) will clash with QND for the regional title at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Raiders won the only meeting between these teams in the regular season 25-14, 25-15.

“QND is a very well-put-together team,” Cook said. “Their hits are awesome. Their serves are amazing. I feel like they come together really well as a team. No matter what happens, we need to leave 110 percent on that court and walk away with our heads held high knowing we did the best we could.”