Hinsdale Central’s Claire Cornell, Alex Davis bring personality to volleyball court

When Hinsdale Central seniors Claire Cornell and Alex Davis were promoted to the sophomore volleyball team as freshmen, a friendship was born.

“We’ve been playing together all four years,” Cornell said. “We’re good friends and know how to pick each other up. I love Alex; she’s great.”

Cornell is in her second season as a captain for the Red Devils. The starting 6-0 middle blocker is a third-year varsity player.

“Claire is really supportive. She has the understanding of what needs to be done if a teammate messes up and how to help. She’s a good captain,” Davis said.

“She’s a character. She has a bunch of personality. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

Cornell is not surprised to hear her friend’s personalty description.

“I’m very sarcastic,” Cornell said. “We have a lot of different characters on the team who bring different qualities. Whenever we’re down, I try to pick up the team. I can pull it together when we need it but we’re always joking around a lot.”

Davis is in her second season as the starting libero after being a defensive specialist as a sophomore. She’s been a teammate with Cornell with Sports Performance and takes her role as libero seriously.

“My favorite part of the game is playing defense,” Davis said. “It’s a slap in the face when they hit the ball as hard as they can and it doesn’t go down because I made a play. It’s the worse feeling for them and feels great to me.”

Cornell, of Hinsdale, relishes her role as co-captain, along with junior outside hitter Meg Irvin.

“My biggest expectation for myself is I just want to try and keep everyone up and help my teammates more than myself,” Cornell said. “After I help my teammates, I’ll go back to myself if anything needs to be done. We all need to be 100 percent to be successful.”

Having the trust of Hinsdale Central coach Kelly Moran goes a long way with Cornell.

“Coach Moran believes I give confidence to everyone and can control situations on the court,” Cornell said. “I know Meg and I have good personalities and create stability, which helps the team.”

Together the two teammates have helped Hinsdale Central take a 3-0 West Suburban Silver record into Tuesday’s scheduled match against rival Lyons.

“We’re the little train that could,” Davis said. “We’re making our way up to the top. We’re kind of the underdog, but we’re stepping up and everyone is playing their own role.”