Full-time setting for her club volleyball team in the offseason helped Maeve Grimes prepare playing for Nazareth this fall.
Grimes was mostly a right-side hitter for the Roadrunners last season and sometimes set part-time. With Villanova recruit Emma Decker, then a junior, setting for the team last season, there wasn’t much need for another setter.
Grimes, along with outside hitter Julia Saunders (Wisconsin) and middle hitter Kristina Elstner supplied most of the attack last year for Nazareth (28-9).
Grimes appeared as a setter last season, but coach Wayne Saunders went with Decker in crunch time. Grimes, a senior from Westchester, was listed as a setter and right-side hitter in last year’s roster. This year, she is only listed as a setter.
Grimes was prepared for some lineup changes this season after Julia Saunders and Elstner graduated. To get the multi-talented 6-foot-3 Decker more hitting opportunities, Grimes knew she would set.
“When we lost Julia from last year, I definitely knew that I had to step up,” Grimes said.
As luck would have it in the offseason, Grimes was the only setter on her 1st Alliance 17 White club team until Lincoln-Way senior Kailey Hackett joined.For the rest of the club season, Grimes and Hackett played in a two-setter offense, which proved to be an ideal learning experience for Grimes entering her senior high school season.
Grimes and Decker had 10 assists each running a two-setter offense in Nazareth’s 25-14, 25-21 victory at Illiana Christian on Friday, Sept. 18.
“I think it has worked out pretty good (with Grimes and Decker),” Wayne Saunders said. “Maeve has taken more of a leadership role within the team, which has helped.”
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To pick up the load on offense, the Roadrunners have turned to senior Karli Chambers and her sophomore sister Kelsi for kills. The Roadrunners will get more offensive help once senior outside hitter Troi Sharpp returns this week from an ankle injury.
“Maeve always plays the game really hard. She has done really well for us,” Wayne Saunders said of the team captain.
The Roadrunners (10-4, 1-1 East Suburban Catholic) play Benet, the defending Class 4A state champion at 6 p.m. Sept. 29 in Lisle.
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