Riverside Brookfield High School senior Sofia Owens fought back tears Thursday after a flood of achievements.
The four-year starter’s high school career ended, but the Bulldogs’ 25-23, 25-19 loss to York in the Class 4A York Regional final also marked their first time reaching a regional final since 2019 in 3A.
“Personally I’m proud of getting 200 kills this year and then I’m proud of our team for winning the first round of regionals,” Owens, with 209 kills, said. “At least we made it to the final this year.”
The Bulldogs (24-12), seeded No. 7 in the Willowbrook Sectional, nearly went further in a season that redefined program expectations. They had just five seniors and 11 varsity players but many underclassmen already have multiple years as varsity standouts.
Their best season since the last regional championship in 2016 included victories over regional champions Oak Park and River Forest, Wheaton Warrenville South, 3A St. Viator and 2A power Timothy Christian.
“I hope that my players know that we are a great team and a great program and we can conquer anything we put our minds to. We need to continue to build on this season,” said RBHS coach Caitlin Staib-Lipinski.
“We wanted to get to state but our goal was to get people to see us as a threat and I think we did that. This was the first time people wanted film on us. We had teams scouting us. To me, I think it shows the impact of how these girls have changed the program.”
Riverside-Brookfield’s Lucy Boyle (9) attempts a kill against York during the Class 4A York Regional finals Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Elmhurst. | Steve Johnston 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Aimee Di Battista (1) goes down to try and dig the ball against York during the Class 4A York Regional finals Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Elmhurst. | Steve Johnston 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Claire Cameron (3) passes the ball to a teammate against York during the Class 4A York Regional finals Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Elmhurst. | Steve Johnston 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Kate Zobel (12) goes up to spike the ball against York during the Class 4A York Regional finals Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Elmhurst. | Steve Johnston 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Mackenzie Sloger (6) attempts a kill against York during the Class 4A York Regional finals Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024 in Elmhurst. | Steve Johnston
The Upstate Eight Conference East Division champions were represented by Owens, senior libero Aimee DiBattista and juniors Claire Cameron and Lucy Boyle on the all-conference team.
Against No. 2 seed York (26-11), RBHS was tied 19-19 in the first set with four straight points served by sophomore Mackenzie Sloger after leading 10-8 before York’s six-point serving run.
The Bulldogs led the second set 8-5 before York’s three-point run to lead 10-4. Another four-run point run opened a 22-15 advantage.
Match leaders included Boyle (5 kills, 6 digs), Sloger (3 kills, 4 aces, 10 service points, 7 digs), Cameron (10 assists), Owens (4 blocks) and DiBattista (9 digs).
“As far as the overall match, I’m not disappointed. I think we played OK,” Staib-Lipinski said. “I think we came ready to go. We just gave up too many strings of points in a row and then played catch-up and that’s hard because all of your energy’s there [to rally].”
Owens led the Bulldogs in overall kills and blocks (62), Cameron led in assists (614), digs (190) and aces (64) and Boyle had a team-high 448 serve receptions. Other strong totals came from Owens (61 aces), Boyle (183 kills, 174 digs), Sloger (189 digs, 151 kills, 373 serve receptions) and DiBattista (362 serve receptions).
Owens finishes No. 6 in RBHS history for career aces (149) and No. 7 for career kills (618).
Cameron posted the program’s No. 2 totals for assists in one season and one match and is ranked No. 3 in career assists (1,150) and No. 9 in career aces (135).
“We worked together, a lot of us grew well together and everyone wanted to play this year. We have a lot of people in good positions this year,” Boyle said. “We had a lot of key components that really built up and helped to push this team to be better.”