Game-Changing Players and Results from the 2022 Autumnfest Invite

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Glenbard East hosted its annual Autumnfest invite tournament this past weekend. Beginning on October 14th, 24 teams began play and competed in pool play. Following the team's two matches on Friday, each program was placed into either the gold, silver or bronze brackets based on how they finished in their pool play Friday night. Multiple top-ranked teams from Illinois were invited to compete this weekend to try to come out on top after two days of back-to-back, competitive matches. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2022 Autumnfest Tournament Champions</strong>- <em>Barrington High School (33-1 Overall, Conference 10-0)</em> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barrington had a couple of tough matchups before getting them to the championship match at this year's Autumnfest invite. After overcoming St. Charles East in two sets, 25-18 and 25-13 they then were set up to face Mother McAuley. Against McAuley, the match went three sets with the third ending at a close 25-21 score. After defeating Mother McAuley in the semifinals, they saw Oak Park River Forest in the championship match and they made it an exciting one to watch. After facing an early deficit in the first set against Oak Park Barrington managed to come back and take the first set 26-24. Oak Park pulled ahead slightly in the second set again, but again, Barrington's offense and the block made it hard for OPRF to extend the match to a third set, and Barrington took the match in two, with the second set being 25-21. Senior outside hitter, university of Arizona sand volleyball commit, and now Autumnfest [program_tooltip program_id='430137' first='[program_tooltip program_id='432160' first='[program_tooltip program_id='432076' first='[program_tooltip program_id='430137' first='[program_tooltip program_id='429142' first='MVP' last='']' last='']' last='']' last='']' last=''], [player_tooltip player_id='138661' first='Jessica' last='Horwath'] was a huge piece to keeping the momentum going for Barrington and digging the team out of their early deficit. In the match, Jess had a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Horwath uses her dynamic play and high volleyball IQ she has learned in her sand volleyball training to dominate on the indoor court. My favorite thing about Jess has everything to do with her mentality and how she constantly gives energy and is always willing to put her team on her back and lead them to success. [player_tooltip player_id='136595' first='Jenna' last='Meitzler'], a junior setter and right-side attacker was also voted onto the all-tournament team. Throughout the weekend of play, she put up some great numbers that were a huge piece of the puzzle in Barrington's wins. Meitzler helped lead the offense with 50 assists on the weekend, but also was a part of the offense as well and put away 20 kills. In the championship match, her all-around play led the team's consistency both in it's offensive and defensive success.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2nd Place</strong>- <em>Oak-Park River Forest High School (24-8 Overall, Conference 3-2)</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oak Park also saw some tough competition in order to make it to the championship match, but they were more than welcoming to those challenges. Oak park was matched up against top-ranked Benet Academy for their first match Saturday morning and took the match in two straight sets. The game went back and forth for a while and the finishes were close with the scores finishing at 25-22 and 27-25. Following their match against Benet, they played Huntley High School and took that match in two straight sets as well. Set one of that match was closer with a finish of 25-23, but following the first set, OPRF's momentum picked up and they handled the second set pretty quickly, taking the match in two and the final score being 25-16. Following these matches, the momentum still continued into their championship against Barrington, and they had some outstanding players competing in that match. Junior setter, [player_tooltip player_id='135953' first='Kinsey' last='Smith'] and junior outside hitter, [player_tooltip player_id='135950' first='Grace' last='Nelson'] both made the all-tournament team from Oak Park as their impact was a huge piece of what brought the team to the championship match. Nelson was just shy of a double-double with 8 kills and 9 digs in the match. Smith distributed the offense very well and had 19 assists for the match. [player_tooltip player_id='199551' first='Reese' last='Garland'] is a 6' middle blocker for Oak Park who also made a huge presence at the tournament and against Barrington. Garland's blocking has been a huge part of her play over the last few weeks as she leads the team in blocks with 38 on the season so far, but this weekend her offense play took a huge step forward. While she put up great blocking numbers with 4 blocks in the championship match, she also put away 6 kills. The connection with her and setter [player_tooltip player_id='135953' first='Kinsey' last='Smith'], is what is taking her game to the next level, especially with how well she runs sets behind her Smith off of one foot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>3rd Place-</strong> <em>Mother McAuley High School (31-3 Overall, Conference 5-0)</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mother McAuley has had quite the season so far, and the close match against Barrington that didn't end in their favor won't stop them from accomplishing their goals come post-season. Following their loss against Barrington, they were matched up against Huntley High School which has also had an exciting season so far. McAuley and Huntley ended up going three sets, with McAuley ultimately coming out on top and taking the third-place spot for the Autumnfest tournament. While the match itself was an exciting one to watch, when it came down to it, Huntley was not able to hold off McAuley's offense. Junior outside hitter and the University of Michigan commit, [player_tooltip player_id='135954' first='Ellie' last='White'] had an outstanding performance this weekend putting away 58 kills in the 12 sets she played, averaging 4.8 kills per set. As a 6-rotation outside, it's evident how athletic she is based on her offensive production, but defensively she understands her role and on the weekend contributed 25 digs. Ellie was selected on the 2022 Autumnfest All-Tournament team based on how well she executed yet another weekend of play. [player_tooltip player_id='225956' first='Maeve' last='Moonan'] and [player_tooltip player_id='288649' first='Sydney' last='Buchanan'] both added 16 kills a piece on the weekend, which shows how offensive their lineup can be along the front row. To complement the overwhelmingly aggressive offense from all of McAuley's hitters, [player_tooltip player_id='138650' first='Gigi' last='Navarrete'] in the libero jersey handles the back row composure and her defensive grit led her to rack up 71 digs this weekend. Gigi is absolutely relentless in the way she plays which is why she is able to pick up almost anything that comes her way. Consistency like that from the back row continues to allow their offense to be running smoothly by setters Olivia Klapp (45 assists) and [player_tooltip player_id='225769' first='Tess' last='Hayes'] (57 assists). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->