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Sports

Maine West Sports Roundup: Volleyball Learning Hard Lessons

Boys soccer gets a big win while football suffers its third straight defeat with anemic scoring.

Girls Volleyball: Maine West coach Randy Tiller realizes he has one of the best athletes in the Central Suburban League (CSL) with Katie Fitzgerald. The 5-foot-10 senior has been a stalwart on the Warriors' volleyball and softball teams during her time at Maine West.

But Tiller knows that in order for Maine West to be successful, other players are going to have step up in support of the star outside hitter.

“Katie [Fitzgerald] once again was half of our offense,” Tiller said after the team's loss to Highland Park on Monday. “We struggle when she's in the back row.”

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Fitzgerald had nine kills against the Giants, but Maine West fell in two games 25-18, 25-13 to their CSL North rival. Maddie Plantz and Ariel Valles each had two kills for the Warriors.

The loss dropped Maine West to 1-8 on the season and 0-1 in conference. Yet, Tiller is confident that once the other players start to hit their strides, Maine West will be a better team late in the season.

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“I still have much to teach. We will get stronger,” Tiller said.

Boys Soccer: Maine West continues to thrive in the underdog role. Unranked by most of the major media outlets, Maine West scored five goals against CSL rival New Trier in a 5-3 victory on Sept. 8. Talt Tensen had two assists in the victory.

Boys Golf: Maine West took 14th place as a team in the Zion-Benton Invitational last weekend. At first glance, 14th out of a 20-team field may not seem too promising of a result, but Maine West, which shot 337 as a team, was only eight strokes out of a top-10 finish.

CSL teams Niles West (327), Evanston (331), Maine South (331) and Waukegan (401) also competed in the tournament.

The Warriors fell to CSL North rival Glenbrook North 150-165 in a dual match on Sept. 8.

Girls Tennis: For the first time in school history, the Warriors captured the Maine East Invitational championship. Maine West defeated Hoffman Estates 5-0, Resurrection 3-2 and Maine East 3-2 to win the four-team meet.

Alma Rekic led Maine West with a 2-1 record at No. 1 singles. Aleksandra Gorski was undefeated in her three doubles matches.  

The tournament championship boosts Maine West’s dual meet record to 8-0 on the year, but the Warriors will soon start CSL North play, which has some of the state’s top teams.

Girls Swimming: The Warriors took sixth place at the Highland Park Early Bird Invitational last weekend with 114 points. Maine South captured the championship with 347 points.

Maine West’s best individual performance came from Holly Wasicak who took fourth place in the 100-meter breaststroke (1 minute, 17.64 seconds). Claudia Grabowski (1:09.88, 100-meter butterfly) and Jana Pundurs (1:03.11, 100-meter freestyle) both took eighth place. Zoe Levonayak (28.70, 50-meter freestyle) and Bailey Guenther (1:10.88, 100-meter butterfly) captured ninth-place finishes.

Football: Maine West lost yet another close game with a 14-6 defeat at the hands of Niles West last week. It was the Warriors’ second 14-6 loss of the young season after Maine West fell to Urban Prep by the same score in Week 1. If the Warriors are going to find some success moving forward, the offense needs to find a way to put more points on the board. In its three games so far, Maine West has scored a total of 20 points. 

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