A box of neatly arranged, black-and-white frosted cupcakes sat beside Metea Valley’s Mikaila Dowd, treats to celebrate her 16th birthday.
Dowd, a junior outside hitter, almost added extra icing. The Georgia Tech recruit did her best to rescue the Mustangs with a late flurry of kills, but it was too little, too late.
Downers Grove North denied Metea its third tournament title of the season and first-ever at Waubonsie Valley, taking Saturday’s championship match of the Warrior Blast 25-16, 16-25, 25-20.
With Metea trailing 22-16 in the third game, Dowd blistered two shots down the line, then drove a hammer off the block to draw the Mustangs within 22-20. They got no closer.
“That was really awesome, but it just wasn’t enough,” Dowd said. “We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
Dowd finished with 12 kills and four aces for Metea (20-5). Hannah Brink added six kills, Jaida Dowd contributed five kills, Claire Rothenberger had 19 digs and Miranda Cada chipped in with 14 assists.
Clare Delaplane led Downers North (12-8) with 16 kills.
Mikaila Dowd sat for a brief stretch midway through Game 3 while Downers North surged ahead, but she returned with a vengeance.
“That’s when you want your superstars to shine,” Metea coach Dave MacDonald said. “Everyone knows she’s our go-to. She went up there swinging and brought us back.”
Cupcakes or no, it’s been a sweet year for Dowd and Metea so far.
The Mustangs won their own tournament and the Willowbrook Invite and are closing in on the program record for wins. A third-year varsity starter, Dowd is on pace to break Lexie Lobdell’s single-season kills record.
Just don’t demand she take all the credit.
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“If someone told me I’m carrying this team, I’d definitely say that’s not true,” Dowd said. “I did not expect anything of this to happen this season. I couldn’t do it without amazing teammates.”
Metea notched probably its biggest win this season in the semifinals, avenging two earlier losses to Neuqua Valley with a neat 25-19, 25-17 win.
“We played essentially a perfect match,” MacDonald said.
Downers was a thorn in Dowd’s side early, repeatedly digging out powerful hits. At one stretch in Game 2, Dowd and her sister sent three spikes long and had one go straight into a double block.
Nonetheless, Metea looked in command up 11-4 in the deciding game.
“We definitely had a let-up then,” Dowd said. “Our execution started to lack.”
Neuqua (13-7) bounced back from the Metea loss to edge Waubonsie 17-25, 25-19, 25-23 for third place.
“We’re going to need to step up our game in the coming week,” said Neuqua coach Kelly Simon, whose team plays Benet, Waubonsie and St. Charles East in successive nights.
Rosary (17-6) was short-handed Saturday and weary after a 6-mile walk-a-thon Friday but still beat Yorkville 25-14, 18-25, 25-20 for fifth.
The Royals were without middle Meegan Hart, taking her official visit to Iowa State.
Erin Burke had 13 kills and four blocks, and Lauren Brummel — recently moved from right side to outside — added eight kills.
“We’ve been relying on Meegan quite a bit, but Erin did a good job of putting away some balls,” Rosary coach Rachel Fox said. “When Meegan gets back, we’ll be whole.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.