Wildkit Spikers Ready To Take The Next Step

Building a winning culture takes time in any high school sport.

Evanston’s girls volleyball team took that first step last year, but the Wildkits only won 10 of their 36 matches and were never really able to establish an identity for the way new coach Paris McFall wants to play.

In his second season in charge now, McFall believes the Kits are ready to take that next step, beginning on the road Monday at Maine East. It’s the start of another challenging schedule and Evanston will play 8 matches in the first week of the season --- including Wednesday’s home opener versus Highland Park.

The next step in McFall’s mind is for the Kits to play more consistent and tougher in the second set of any given match.

“We were always competitive in the first set last year, and we’d play teams tough, but then we’d get rolled pretty consistently in that second set,” McFall recalled. “This year we want to be a lot more competitive. The next step is to be consistently competing, to being relentless out there.

“I am super, super proud of the effort and the intensity I’ve seen so far in (preseason) practice. I think we can be a scrappy team, a team that doesn’t give up. We want to be more consistent and play at a higher level.”

Learning how to win was part of the process for the squad, most of whom played at the varsity level for the first time last year. Six seniors graduated and now McFall believes the returnees can build on their experience behind returning starters Lina Hauser, Gillian Colledge and Kylie O’Connor.

Help will also come from a better-than-usual junior varsity group of players who will move up after posting a 19-14 overall won-loss record and scoring strong tournament finishes at both Libertyville (2nd place) and the season-ending Central Suburban League showdown, where they finished 3rd.

“Losing 6 seniors, we’ve lost a little bit of that level (and speed) of play at the varsity level,” said the coach. “But I really don’t see a dropoff for us. The JV team did really well last year and I love the chemistry and the competitiveness I’ve seen so far in practice.”

The Wildkits will also benefit from their participation at a summer league hosted for the first time and created by Loyola Academy. The league included the host Ramblers, Whitney Young, Niles West and Taft and gave players in those programs who might not otherwise have handled the ball in the off-season --- in a sport where ballhandling mistakes usually account for a majority of the points --- the chance to hone their skills.

“It definitely helped us get used to the pace at the varsity level,” said McFall.

Besides the 3 returning starters, familiar faces back for another year on the varsity squad include middle blocker Margot Van Nice, outside hitter Sofia Lindroth, a junior, and middle Annika Stewart. Junior Isa De Los Reyes is expecting a challenge from her senior sister, Cat De Los Reyes, for the starting job at libero.

Top newcomers include a trio of juniors in Sarah Skey, Maeve Locher and Frankie Taylor, who should boost the lineup in the hitting part of the game.

Others to watch are senior middle Greer Rutter, junior libero Audrey Low, junior Molly Allen and sophomore Casey McDermott, a setter.

Hauser came on strong at the crucial setting position over the second half last year when McFall experimented with a hybrid offensive setup that wasn’t a 5-1 or a 6-2. She thrived in the hybrid attack, but the coach indicated that the Wildkits will probably present a more traditional look on offense this fall.

“We’ll lean a lot on Lina to be a leader for us and we’ll probably run a 5-1,” he said. “Last year we had more players who could play multiple positions. I’ve seen a lot of growth from Lina and she can use this as an opportunity for further growth.”

Evanston’s first week is a busy one with road matches at Maine East on Monday, at St. Viator on Tuesday, and at home on Wednesday.

They’ll get a chance to check off the first goal on a list of season goals when they play Friday and Saturday at the Libertyville Invitational.

“When we talk about our goals for the season, we’re not necessarily talking about the total number of wins,” said McFall. “The first goal is to get to the Gold (championship) bracket in a tournament. And the second one is to win a (postseason) playoff game.”