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State field hockey playoffs may feature styles that are different than what WVC teams are accustomed to facing

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; She takes a quick peek across the court, surveying the opposition.</p><p>Courtney Kijek has her pick of attackers in the Holy Redeemer offense. She can look to her left and find a Division-I recruit in Lauren Slavoski. Or she can see peer to her right and find left-handed hitting Kassie Schinski. Maybe it&#8217;s a middle set to Caroline Banas or Amanda Curcio, or a perfect loft to rising junior Brynn Kukosky.</p><p>She picks her teammate based on that glance, using her volleyball intellect to choose the highest-percentage chance for the point.</p><p>The setter makes it look easy.</p><p>Right?</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty tough at times,&#8221; Kijek smiled.</p><p>The senior setter is the quarterback that makes the Royals&#8217; offense fire like a well-oiled machine. Redeemer, fresh off a District 2 Class 2A championship, begins its quest for a state title Tuesday, traveling to North Pocono High School to face off with District 4 champ Wellsboro. Match time is slated for 7 p.m.</p><p>Kijek is fluent running through the offense.</p><p>The decisions appear effortless, and well thought out &#8211; even though she has a split second to process which one of her attackers get the set.</p><p>&#8220;It takes a lot of practice,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We put in a lot of hours in the gymnasium each week. It&#8217;s a lot of repetition, going through the same motions on every play. Really, it&#8217;s determined by the opponent and which spots are open on the other side of the court.&#8221;</p><p>And you can&#8217;t put a price on a veteran setter with her kind of court vision.</p><p>Just ask Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick. He continually sings her praises.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s the quarterback of our team,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She handles the ball more than anybody else. The setter is your quarterback and calls your offense.&#8221;</p><p>There&#8217;s no doubt Kijek is the premier athlete at her position in the Wyoming Valley Conference.</p><p>She finished with 412 assists, tops on the conference by almost 50, and has committed to continue her career at Millersville University.</p><p>&#8220;We have some really great hitters here,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Really, it starts with the pass from the back, and those girls always seem to put the ball in the right spot.&#8221;</p><p>Redeemer, ranked fifth in the state, begins its road through states with Wellsboro.</p><p>The Green Hornets defeated Wyalusing, 3-1, the third time Wellsboro had defeated their Northern Tier rival.</p><p>In that match, Mikayla Feil and Kirsten Florio each had more than 10 kills.</p><p>The two teams have played before. The last meeting at the state level was 2012 as Redeemer swept the Hornets, 3-0, at Dallas High School.</p><p>And the last names didn&#8217;t change very much as Redeemer&#8217;s Nicole Slavoski and Wellsboro&#8217;s Hannah Zuchowski took center stage in 2012 with a combined 31 kills. Three years later, their little sisters Lauren Slavoski and Haley Zuchowski hope to lead their teams to the state quarterfinals.</p><p>Should Redeemer be victorious, the team would play the winner of District 3 champ Berks Catholic and District 12 runner-up Masterman Saturday at a site and time to be determined. The Royals were eliminated by Berks Catholic in 2014.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Senior Courtney Kijek (front) makes the job of keeping Holy Redeemer&#8217;s offensive machine rolling look easy. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_aa_vb3_faa1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Senior Courtney Kijek (front) makes the job of keeping Holy Redeemer&#8217;s offensive machine rolling look easy. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Redeemer’s Kijek makes it look simple