Lemont Breezes Past Lincoln-Way West for Volleyball Regional Title

Vicki Wrobel came running to the Lemont bench and yelled, "This is awesome! This is great!"

The Lemont girls volleyball team had a 9-2 lead in Game 1 of its Class 3A Lemont Regional final against Lincoln-Way West at that point on Saturday. With a loud crowd featuring a mix of parents, football players and underclassmen volleyball players, the Indians were clearly energized en route to their 25-11, 25-8 regional championship victory.

"They really like this atmosphere and you could see that," Lemont coach Chris Zogata said. "I've got to give credit to the sophomores and freshmen for coming through and cheering as loud as they can, and for the fans — knowing there were three athletic events going on — and the football players who came out and celebrated with us."

Lemont (27-9) was never really challenged by Lincoln-Way West, as the Indians were led by seniors Melissa Bograd, Courtney Keefe, Danielle Susz and Becca Brabec, junior Emily Brown and sophomore Megan Litoborski.

"We work really well together as a team and there were no negatives today," Bograd said. "We're always there for each other, keeping our spirits up, and that's how we've gotten victories all season."  

Not that the Indians needed any pep talks Saturday. Overwhelmed by the aggressive play of Lemont and the one-sided crowd, the Warriors were overmatched and never mounted much of a comeback in either game.

Lemont turned a 4-2 lead in Game 2 into a 10-2 advantage, highlighted by a service ace by Bograd and a nice play by Wrobel.

"We're playing some of our best (volleyball) right now and we've got the feeling that we're going to state," Bograd said. "That's the feeling we've got right now and we just want to keep it up."       

With five starting seniors, the Indians have a great deal of experience, meaning that strong play comes down to proper execution. Making very few mistakes, the Indians couldn't have fared much better against the Warriors.

"We worked on quite a few things in practice and they executed all of those things tonight," Zogata said. "I don't need to tell them do this and that anymore; they're physically ready. It's just making sure that they're mentally prepared to win. We have so much talent that it's just a mental game now."      

Lemont will return to action at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Rosary Sectional in Aurora.