Wheaton Academy rallies past Batavia in five-set thriller at Wheaton Academy Regional

Wheaton Academy's Warriors came back from a 24-19 deficit in the third set to beat Batavia 14-25, 27-25, 29-27 in the Class 3A Wheaton Academy Regional final on Thursday. Penny Park served through five Batavia match points to keep the Warriors alive.

The match was the closest of the regional finals held Thursday. Other Class 3A finals went to second-seeded Lemont, which beat Agricultural Science 25-11, 25-12, and to Nazareth, whose top-seeded Roadrunners defeated Kelly 25-3, 25-4. Geneva topped St. Francis 25-18, 25-22 for the Geneva Regional title.

In Class 4A, second-seeded Benet beat fifth-seeded Naperville Central 25-17, 19-25, 25-10 in the Naperville Central Regional final. Top-seeded Glenbard West defeated seventh-seeded Downers Grove South 25-18, 25-10 in the Downers Grove South Regional final. Third-seeded Lyons beat sixth-seeded York 25-18, 25-16 for the Oak Lawn Regional title.

Marist, seeded second, beat ninth-seeded Hinsdale Central 25-13, 25-7 at the Hinsdale Central Regional. St. Laurence, the fourth seed, edged fifth-seeded Riverside-Brookfield 25-23, 26-24 for the R-B Regional title.

In Class 3A, top-seeded Montini beat eighth-seeded Fenwick 25-21, 25-19 in the Trinity Regional final. Montini improved to 27-10 while Fenwick dropped to 12-21. Victoria Reed had 13 kills for the Broncos, Micaela Haggerty added five kills and five digs, and Avalyn DeKeyser had 17 assists. For Fenwick, Maggie Hiller had seven kills, Emily Drumm five kills and Phoebe Baker 10 assists.

Second-seeded Timothy Christian beat seventh-seeded Glenbard South 26-24 in the second set to close out the Glenbard South Regional final 25-17, 26-24. Mia VanHekken had nine kills and four digs, Audrey Williams nine kills, Maddie Rudman eight kills, eight digs and four aces, and Sophie Kwak 25 assists for the Trojans, now 28-6.

Fourth-seeded Evergreen Park beat fifth-seeded Hinsdale South 25-14, 25-22 in the Evergreen Park Regional final. In Class 2A, top-seeded Westmont defeated Chicago Academy 25-13, 25-14 for the Chicago Academy Regional title. IC Catholic Prep beat Regina 25-18, 25-19 at Waukegan.

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