Girls' volleyball sweeps BG at Volley for the Cure match

October 6, 2009

By Alex Cannella
News Editor
“Volley for the Cure was created as a way to honor and celebrate the heroic fight against breast cancer. Tonight’s match is dedicated to all the men and women who have been touched by breast cancer with the hopes that this devastating disease will one day be cured.”
These words began the night, followed by a moment of silence. However, the opening statements were where the cordiality ended.

The Prospect girls' volleyball team huddles up before its game vs. Buffalo Grove Tuesday night in Jean Walker Fieldhouse. — The Prospect girls’ volleyball team huddles up before its game vs. Buffalo Grove Tuesday night in Jean Walker Fieldhouse.

Tuesday night’s game was a hard played match against Buffalo Grove. After winning two matches and the consolation bracket at the Glenbard West invite, the girls’ volleyball team prevailed against the Bison, led by senior Rachel Hunt, who had nine kills for the Knights. Junior Sarah Hunt also led the Knights, scoring five kills and three blocks, while sophomore Danielle Siwik got 13 assists.
The first game started as an intense match, with the Knights in the lead and Buffalo Grove only a few points behind. Both teams displayed rock solid defenses. Stellar saves occurred almost as often as spikes, and during several volleys, both teams refused to let the ball die.
Often, the Bison rallied within two points of the Knights and began breathing down their necks. However, each time they got close, Prospect managed to foil their attempt to take the lead. Late in the game, however, Prospect leaped ahead to an eight-point lead. Buffalo Grove struggled hard to catch up to Prospect, but in the end fell short. The first game concluded 25-16.
The second game wasn’t as frenzied as the first, as both teams were tired from their intense first game. However, Prospect seemed to persevere more as they kept up a good defense and kept costly mistakes down while the Bison repeatedly hit spikes into the net. Prospect took an early 7-2 lead, and the gap only widened.
Midway through the second game, the Knights suddenly put up a whopping eight points in a row, launching their lead to 22-9. Just as suddenly, the entire fieldhouse revived itself, with both teams fighting for victory with their original vigor and the Prospect crowd’s chants echoing over the court.
The Bison refused to go down without a fight, and put up a tenacious resistance to the Knights. However, Prospect finished the game 25-12 and swept Buffalo Grove.

And the fund-raising may have been even more successful than the match.

This year, the volleyball teams were able to raise $6500. The fund-raising doesn’t stop there. All the students received coupons to Oberweis, and any purchases made Friday, Oct. 9, with a coupon present, a percentage of the profits will go towards Prospect’s fund-raising. Daria Schaffeld, the sophomore girls’ volleyball coach, predicts that will make their grand total around $6,800.

Schaffeld believes this year’s fundraising has been a major success, saying that the Prospect community “was amazing, and did an excellent job” at raising money and supporting the teams. Schaffeld believes that the cause may have effected the team’s play on the court.

“[Tuesday night] our girls were fired up. We were pumped and excited.” she said.

With their estimated grand total, the team has exceeded last years amount of $6,000.

And fans can continue to contribute to the cause by going to Oberweis on Friday night and presenting their pink coupon from Volley for a Cure. A portion of the proceeds from Friday night will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

~ Carly Evans contributed to this report

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