After coming in first place in their conference and winning the regional tournament, South’s women’s volleyball team looks to advance far into the playoff season, according to Captain Sara Prenner. The Titans defeated Evanston on Oct. 23 in two games to capture the conference championship.

According to head coach Katie Hoover, the team was able to defeat Evanston mainly as a result of their successful serving.

“[Our serves] were really consistent and aggressive beyond the service line and they were not able to set up their attack,” Hoover said. “They were scrambling a lot to get an aggressive attack back over, so we got ahead with the score.”

Along with their big win against Evanston, the Titans beat New Trier on Sept. 30, which put them in a great spot to take the conference title, according to Prenner.

“We were able to take them by surprise because we were playing at a faster pace than they were used to,” Hoover said. “That gave us the opportunity to hit through holes and blocks and take advantage of their serve receive.”

However, in their second game of the season against New Trier on Oct. 20,  the women fell to the Trevians in all three games, with scores of 25-21, 24-26 and 26-28. According to Prenner, the team used this as fuel for their game against Evanston.

“That loss was key to having us refocus and remember that we can’t just start games, we have to start and finish them,” Hoover said.

Having held an overall record of 30-8, the team attributes their success to not only these regular season games, but also to wins at tournaments. One tournament at GBN over the weekend of Oct. 10 was especially memorable for the team because of their ability to sweep the tournament and come in first place, according to Hoover.

Prenner attributes this success to their strong team dynamic and senior leaders.

“I think it’s helped because [the seniors are] all really experienced because we’ve been playing together since freshman year,” Prenner said.

Hoover agrees that the seniors have been significant in leading the team to success. Accompanying them are three juniors and two sophomores who play maturely and give off youthful energy, according to Hoover.

As a result of their strong team dynamic, they have been able to defeat Loyola three times thus far in the season, according to Prenner.

“I think that [those games] helped boost our confidence and also it just gives us a drive knowing they’re from our area because we want to be the best from this area,” Prenner said.

Along with their dynamic, senior Catie Weinman believes that their play on the court has benefited from their deep lineup.

“We’re not one of those teams that has one big hitter,” Weinman said. “We are a team where we have [many] big hitters and anyone we put in will do well because we are lucky enough to have an all around [talented] team.”

This trait led the team to their victory of the regional tournament, according to Prenner. The team beat Prospect and Grayslake Central in order to capture the title. Their score against Prospect was 25-15 for both games. With Grayslake Central, it was 25-15, 12-25, 26-24.

“We played really well in the first game [against Grayslake]and we had a really strong warm up which sort of led into that,” Prenner said.

However, in the second game, the Titans found it hard to stay mentally tough as a result of heckling and loud cheering from Gray’s Lake Central fans, according to Prenner. Then, in the third game, Prenner believes that the reality that their season might end that night helped refocus the girls to lead them to victory.

At a gamepoint of 25-24, the Titans pulled off the win with a strong serve from junior Cory Klapacz and a kill from senior Sylvia Wojslaw.

On Nov. 4, the Titans played Libertyville for the sectional championship with South losing 20-25 and 21-24 to end their season.