Apparently, Oak Lawn senior Maeve Hassett is not a stat tracker. Or for that matter, a milestone chaser.

She had no idea before Tuesday night’s match that she was at 399 assists for the season. She was quite surprised afterward when told she had crossed the 400 mark — by a lot.

“Oh, my gosh,” Hassett said with a smile. “I didn’t know about the assists. This means a lot. That’s a lot of assists. But I couldn’t have done it without my hitters, so thanks to them.”

Hassett will have a chance to add on even more thanks to a 25-14, 25-12 victory over Andrew in a Class 4A Eisenhower Sectional semifinal match in Blue Island.

Sinead Conroy led the way for Oak Lawn (27-7) with 13 kills. Amina Maali added six kills and eight digs, while Emma McAuliffe had 13 digs. Hassett finished with 26 assists and five digs.

Riley Koss tallied four kills and one block for Andrew (10-23). Julita Latka and Katelin Simms contributed three kills apiece.

Oak Lawn will play Lincoln-Way East (21-15), a 25-9, 25-6 semifinal winner over the host Cardinals, at 6 p.m. Thursday for the regional title.

Conroy, meanwhile, made the most noise in the gym Tuesday. The 5-foot-6 middle hitter jumped high and hit hard.

“They’re a solid team, and I really felt we needed to amp up the energy for this more,” Conroy said. “It’s something our program has struggled with. We haven’t won a (regional) match in a couple of years now.

“We were ready to play. Now, we just have to keep the energy up.”

Speaking of up, Hassett’s high school career at Oak Lawn has been full of surprises.

As a freshman, she didn’t play volleyball.

“Because of COVID,” Hassett explained. “When we played (in the spring), my sports crossed over and I decided to play soccer. I played soccer since I was 2 years old, so I kind of felt obligated to play.

“My freshman year of soccer, I didn’t really like it. So sophomore year, I decided to just play volleyball.”

She played pretty much every position but setter as a sophomore on the JV team.

Things changed dramatically before her junior season, however, when Hassett showed up for Oak Lawn coach Kathleen Miller’s summer camp.

“When I talked to her the summer of her junior year, I saw she had some soft hands,” Miller said. “I just said, ‘Hey, you’re going to have to work your head off, but how about giving setting a try?’”

Hassett had to hold her hands out and look.

“I definitely did,” Hassett said, laughing. “Then I was like, ‘Oh, OK. I’ll try it.”

By mid-September, Hassett was the starting setter.

“She jumped right into it,” Miller said. “We waited a bit because we wanted to make sure she was physically ready and comfortable enough to take the leadership reins.

“But she was super coachable. It was a great transition for her.”

Hassett finished that season with 372 assists, 47 aces and 162 digs.

Daily Southtown

Twice-weekly

See also  Big Ten set to add Oregon and Washington to conference

News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday

Conroy, still developing herself as a middle hitter, loved the sets. And admired the effort.

“Maeve was a hard worker,” Conroy said. “Whatever coach told her to do, she adjusted. And she was really good at standing up to adversity.”

Now, Hassett and Conroy make quite a team. The “soft touch” set is often followed by Conroy’s floor-denting spikes.

“Yeah, I’m so gentle, and then … there’s her, smashing it,” Hassett said.

Her smile was intended for Conroy. But it could have applied to being the leader of a team that set a program single-season record for victories, won the conference title and is now a regional finalist.

“I don’t know, it just feels amazing,” Hassett said. “We literally couldn’t have done it without all of the hard work we put in.

“Every day in the summer, we were always together, just getting better. We worked for it and we deserve it. It feels great.”

Originally Published: Oct 24, 2023 at 10:55 pm