Must Watch Matches for Chicagoland High School Volleyball: Week 4

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week 4 brings more competition and opportunities for teams to show what they are about. The beauty of it still being early in the season is that we see teams not only playing others outside of their conference but outside of their class. Here are the top three matches and the teams you have to keep an eye on through this week: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong> Match 1: </strong><em>Oak Park River Forest High School vs. Plainfield North High School Wed. 9/14 at 6:15 pm</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oak Park River Forest and Plainfield North will be a good match-up this Wednesday at the fifteenth annual Wheaton Classic at Wheaton Warrenville South. Oak Park holds a 12-2 record on the season so far. [player_tooltip player_id='135950' first='Grace' last='Nelson'] has been a huge leader in their success with her great defense in the back row and aggressive front row play, but Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='199551' first='Reese' last='Garland'] has also begun to come into an important role as a young but productive middle blocker for OPRF. Garland producing the way a middle should and is leading the team in blocks with 21 blocks this season. Her explosive closing to the opponent's pin hitters assists in putting up four strong hands in the hitter's face and makes the defenders behind her line up in the best position to succeed. Plainfield North's senior middle blocker, Tori Bouska will be the middle to test Garland's explosiveness, as Bouska has the ability to run anything in transition when her senior setter, Ella Strausberger finds her. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Match 2:</strong> <em>Barrington High School vs. Fremd Thurs. 9/15 at 6:00 pm</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barrington is surely making a name for themselves this season in more ways than one. They are still flawless in their record so far as they haven't dropped any of their thirteen matches played. Six players are above the 6ft presenting a stacked front row against anyone they play. Senior outside hitter and captain, Jess Horwath, leads the team in kills, with 118 kills on the season so far and averaging 3.9 kills per set. This comes as no surprise, knowing that Jess' vision of the court and her hand control is far above average considering she has to use these skills in her beach volleyball play as well. Horwath is committed to the University of Arizona to play beach volleyball, and the skill and speed she uses in the sand translate exceptionally well into her indoor play. Hope Regas, a 6' pin hitter for Barrington is a perfect compliment to Horwath and raises the intensity in the front row for Barrington, with the consistently aggressive hitters along the front row. As a junior, Regas is third on the team for kill production with 64 kills and that is not shocking considering the height at which she makes contact when attacking. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Match 3:</strong> <em>Montini Catholic High School vs. Bolingbrook High School Sat. 9/17 at 10:00 am</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both Montini Catholic and Bolingbrook came off of exciting upsets last week. Montini swept the #1 ranked team in 2A, Genoa-Kingston who was also ranked #5 in all of Illinois at the time. Bolingbrook had a clean sweep against the #1 ranked program in Illinois and in 4A, Lyons Township, which moved their state ranking up following that win. Saturday, both teams will battle it out on Bolingbrook's home court at 9 am and it will be an exciting match to follow. Senior powerhouse hitters [player_tooltip player_id='225768' first='Madison' last='Shroba'] (Bolingbrook) and [player_tooltip player_id='138653' first='Jordan' last='Heatherly'] (Montini) will be an interesting matchup to see, as both are ranked in the state for offensive production. Bolingbrook's success doesn't stop at Shroba, with Angie Pena being a sophomore middle blocker who is leading the team in blocks right now, with 16 on the season. Her quick lateral speed and aggressive press on has made her defense in the front row, something that can't be missed. Montini has a relatively young team, especially with Freshman, Francesca Lorenzo on the outside attacking, but Lorenzo has started to play older than she is. She contacts at an aggressively high attacking point making defenders unable to read and get under her swings. Lorenzo is beginning to play a bigger role than a freshman normally would, which will make her an exciting player to follow through he career at Montini. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->