Coming into the season, Grant coach John Gizowski knew he had three players — outside hitters Clara O’Brien and Katelyn Rossini and libero Kendall Levy — for key positions.
“They really stood out,” he said.
There was one problem. The Bulldogs didn’t have a setter to get the ball to the hitters.
In stepped O’Brien.
“For her club team during the high school offseason, Clara is an outside hitter,” Gizowski said. “For our team, we needed her to set and run our offense, and she’s done a great job for us. She’s just a solid all-around player who can do a lot of things.”
Indeed, O’Brien has piled up 537 assists, and 12th-seeded Grant (21-15) has reached the Class 4A Warren Sectional semifinals against the odds.
With a roster loaded with underclassmen and a starting lineup featuring six juniors, including O’Brien, the Bulldogs lost nine of their first 14 matches this season.
“I guess you can say we have been a surprising success story in the playoffs,” Gizowski said. “We knew we were going to be a work in progress early in the year, but these girls have been working hard to get better since the first day of practice. It’s been something to see.”
O’Brien said the early losses didn’t frustrate her.
“I knew we were building something for next year with all the juniors we have,” she said. “We were a little surprised it clicked this season.”
The Bulldogs started to turn things around in early October, finishing second in Schaumburg’s tournament, and they just pulled off upset victories against fifth-seeded Hersey and fourth-seeded Warren in the Highland Park Regional to extend their winning streak to seven.
“I think seeing the girls hold up that regional trophy says it all,” Gizowski said. “For other schools, it might not be that important. But for us, it hasn’t happened in a very long time.”
Grant, the only double-digit seed among the 32 teams left in 4A, will play top-ranked and top-seeded Barrington (36-1) in a sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Monday. The veteran Fillies finished third in the state last season.
“I know we have a big hurdle ahead of us, but we will go into the match to try to execute the best we can and give it our best shot,” Gizowski said.
Rossini said flying under the radar hasn’t hurt the Bulldogs so far.
“I think we snuck up on teams because no one expected us to do so well,” she said. “The pressure is on our opponents, not us.”
If there was any pressure on O’Brien to become an effective setter this season, she embraced the challenge.
“It’s something I haven’t done much before,” she said. “Now I want to play setter at my club, too, because I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s fun.”
Rossini, middle hitter Alyssa Sandquist and outside hitters Claire Henney and Melanee Hobson have all benefited from O’Brien’s position change. Rossini, who had a whopping 24 kills in the Bulldogs’ come-from-behind 22-25, 25-21, 25-0 win against Warren in the regional final on Thursday, has surpassed 300 kills for the season.
“Clara has learned a lot about her teammates as the season has gone along and where they like the ball, but you can see by (Rossini’s) numbers who we usually look to first,” Gizowski said.
Rossini has welcomed the opportunity to be a focal point of the offense.
“It feels good to get a lot of sets,” she said. “I don’t mind it because I feel comfortable with my hitting. I’m glad my team has confidence in me too.”
Among Grant’s other challenges this season, Gizowski — who also coached the boys volleyball team in the spring — is a 22-year-old student at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He makes a 50-mile commute most days to coach at his alma mater.
“I had a mid-term exam on Saturday, and instead of studying, I was thinking more about our match with Warren,” he said.
The Bulldogs passed that test. Gizowski knows that whatever happens in the sectional, they will have gained invaluable experience heading into next season.
“With so many juniors getting a chance to experience winning a regional and playing in the sectional, of course, it’s going to help us next season,” he said. “The inexperience we had coming into this season shouldn’t be a problem next year.”
Darren Day is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
