Naperville North tops Naperville Central
Updated: October 18, 2011 9:47PM
Absolutely nothing was settled in the ever-so-tight DuPage Valley Conference volleyball race on Tuesday.
Naperville North spoiled rival Naperville Central’s senior night with a 21-25, 25-23, 26-24 win to join the Redhawks and West Aurora in a three-way tie at 11-2 atop the DVC standings.
Everything will come down to Thursday final night of the regular season when all three teams will be in action.
“It’s always an emotional match when you play Central,” said Naperville North coach Jen Urban. “We showed a lot of poise in the third set. It’s nice to see us behind a few points and pull out the win.”
In the third set, the Huskies (22-7) were down 22-19 when Ashley Crawford scored on a pair of clutch kills that helped tie the game at 22-22.
The Redhawks (22-13) were able to move ahead one more time, 24-23 on a kill by Maddie Siambeckos, but then a couple of Naperville Central net violations around a kill by the Huskies Corinne Gajcak sealed the victory for Naperville North.
“It was a typical Naperville North-Naperville Central match,” said Urban. “It could have gone either way.”
In the second set, the Huskies seemed firmly in control, leading 23-15 when the Redhawks tied it at 23-23 with a dramatic eight point run which included a pair of aces by Alysia Baznik. But the Redhawks were unable to finish as the Huskies scored the final two points to force a third set.
Crawford was huge in that second set with six kills and a block.
“When you play a rival it’s all about emotions,” said Crawford. “I may have let my emotions get to me in the first set, but in the second something clicked and I knew I had to just go up there and do the job for my team. As a captain, I have to step up and turn the game around. When there’s so much at stake you just have to get there and get in your zone.”
“We did a good job of setting the ball out to the pin, so Ashley could swing line or cross,” said Urban. “She was really aggressive for us.”
Gajcak’s 15 kills and Crawford’s 13 led the Huskies offense. Colleen Larson was the dig-leader with 15 and Gajcak added 13.
“When we had that big run at the end of the second set, I thought we got the momentum back even though we lost,” said Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson. “So, I felt confident going into the third set. And even though we did a lot of good things, those little details prevented us from taking that next step. We gave them too many points.”
Baznik led the Redhawks with 12 kills, 10 digs, 16 assists and three aces. Nikki Connors and Siambeckos had eight kills each.
© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment