As badly as she wanted to be there, Tinley Park junior Megan Piotrowski couldn’t be at girls volleyball activities during the summer.
An elite softball player, she was traveling the country with the Orland Park Sparks.
However, she made one promise to the team — and to Titans coach Michelle Beary.
“They were keeping contact with me,” Piotrowski said. “I made sure they knew when the season started I would work hard when I had the chance and I would be there for them.”
She was totally there when they needed her Thursday night for a 25-18, 18-25, 25-20 victory over host Reavis in a South Suburban Conference crossover in Burbank.
Piotrowski picked up six kills, 11 digs and an ace for Tinley (7-1, 1-0 SSC Blue). Sara Henry and Mia Taglioli added three kills apiece, while Raeley Mungcal recorded 21 digs and Henry had 22 assists.
Evelyn Blacha led Reavis (4-3, 0-1 SSC Red) with 18 kills. Paulina Potok added 10 kills and 12 digs, while Yuvia Velasquez chipped in with 16 digs.
Piotrowski left a huge imprint on the first game. Early on, she rallied the Titans from an 8-3 deficit into a tie with a kill and four straight service points. Later, she had three kills during a critical stretch in which Tinley turned a 16-14 deficit into a 23-16 lead.
In the third game, she had another nice service run and put down a kill for the 24th point.
Not bad for a kid who never touched a volleyball in the summer.
“I know,” Piotrowski said, smiling. “It took a lot of hard practice. I had to catch up a lot from the summer. I’m still progressing. I’m getting to their level of play.
“Honestly, my game goes well when Sara is setting me up well. All I do depends on her. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without her.”
Piotrowski missed an early tournament, but in four matches, the 5-foot-8 outside hitter has 15 kills, 41 digs and five aces.
“She’s one of our go-to players,” Beary said. “She seems pretty unfazed by things. And with any of our girls, there is always room for improvement. But with her, it’s like little tweaks, and she goes out there and does it.
“Megan is a solid outside who has some power behind her. She brings smartness. We tell her, ‘go down the line, adjust this or adjust that,’ and she has that volleyball IQ. The smartness on the floor is always an added value.”
In the spring, Piotrowski was named all-area and all-state in softball. A talented outfielder, she swung a mean bat, hitting .595 with 41 runs, 11 doubles, five triples and 32 RBIs.
There’s little doubt her college future will be on the diamond.
Beary, who was a multisport athlete herself in high school, was hoping Piotrowski would stick with volleyball. But there were flashbacks.
“There were girls in the past, when I was coaching basketball, where they left basketball for volleyball,” Beary said. “I tried not to think about it and tried not to expect the worst.
“We knew that during summer we wouldn’t see her much. But we were never worried about it. We knew we would play a little bit of catching up, just in terms of acclimating the varsity. But it was a quick transition.”
Her teammates were all on board.
“We definitely respect Megan as a player,” Henry said. “We know softball is her No. 1 goal. And honestly, a lot of girls on this team are multisport athletes. It’s beneficial to us because they are always conditioning, always putting out 100%.”
Abandoning volleyball is not in Piotrowski’s playbook, either.
“I’ve been playing since I was 10,” she said. “Softball is always No. 1 in my heart, but I love volleyball. It’s a sport I wish I could play in college. But I’ll do it now. This is my time.”