Rosary downs rival Aurora Central in SCC opener
Updated: August 31, 2011 9:43PM
The temptation was to say be careful what you wish for Wednesday after Rosary welcomed neighborhood rival Aurora Central to the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division by handing the Chargers a 25-15, 25-16 setback.
ACC coach Jeanne Czipri didn’t need to hear it. She knew what she and her girls were in for with the move up.
“When I took the job two years ago, that was the goal,” said Czipri, whose team moved up to the league’s bigger division (enrollment-wise) after winning the SCC Gold two straight years. “It’s a huge compliment to the girls who have graduated to get us here. Now, we’re focusing on playing well in the conference and, being in Class 2A, getting it done in the postseason.
“We know we’re gonna be out-sized in some of these big (conference) matches. Rosary has a lot more height and power so we’re not gonna overpower them but we can still play smart and do well. We just didn’t follow our game plan tonight.”
The Royals have four-year starter Mia Wegman returning from a record-setting, 380-kill season, but showcased a balanced attack that should again put them in the hunt for a SCC Blue title.
The Chargers opened strong and were tied 13-13. At that point, Wegman had one kill and one hitting error but junior outside hitter Briana Flagg had already put down four of her team-leading eight kills.
“She’s one of our main killers,” Flagg said of Wegman, “but we all did pretty well tonight and we were all playing with confidence.”
An ACC hitting error helped the Royals break that deadlock and Wegman then reeled off six straight service points to put the first-game outcome to rest. It included an ace, two kills and a block from Kate Stefanski (three kills), a block from Flagg and another Charger error.
Wegman opened the second game serving five straight points, including two aces. The Chargers rallied from an 18-10 deficit to within 18-13 but were outscored 7-3 the rest of the way.
“We don’t have to rely on (Mia Wegman) as much (this year),” said Rosary coach Lisa Kasper, whose team is 7-2 and 1-0. “We do have a very diversified offense. We can get the ball to anybody and they’ll put it down. And that’s gonna free her up, especially when we get our middles established a little more.
“We tend to be our own worst enemies at times. Even tonight, in both games we had nine errors but one good thing was we didn’t miss that many serves. That’s an area we improved since the tournament at Plainfield North (last weekend). If you can get points off your serve that really helps.”
Wegman finished with six kills and senior setter Abby Konovodoff had 14 assists. Senior outside hitters Ashley Wilk and Katilyn Rosa had three kills each for the Chargers, who fell to 3-5 and 0-1.
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