Girls Volleyball: West Aurora nips Naperville North in Dupage Valley thriller
Updated: September 18, 2012 9:49PM
The West Aurora girls volleyball team is gaining confidence with every match — and with good reason.
Since an early-season loss to Benet in the finals of the Redwings tournament, the Blackhawks have reeled off 11 straight wins including Tuesday’s 25-23, 26-24 victory over host Naperville North.
The win puts the Blackhawks (15-1) alone atop the DuPage Valley Conference standings at 5-0. It was the first conference loss for the Huskies (11-5, 4-1).
“We knew we had to be aggressive because Naperville North is so athletic,” said Lauren Carlini, who led the Blackhawks with 13 kills, 14 assists and five digs. “We tried to keep the momentum throughout. Our passing was amazing and all our hitters were putting balls down.”
The Blackhawks built an 11-6 lead early in the first set, but Naperville North battled back and tied it at 11-11.
The teams stayed within two points of each other the rest of the way and were deadlocked at 23-23 when Carlini put away a pair of kills deep on the Huskies side to end the set.
West Aurora kept the momentum going in Set 2, building an 11-5 lead, but the Huskies fought their way back into it and tied it at 13-13.
The Blackhawks took the advantage again until an ace by the Huskies’ Colleen Larson tied it at 24-24.
Kills by Peyton McKenzie and Nerissa Vogt brought the West Aurora victory home.
“The more we play together the more comfortable we get,” said West Aurora coach Kari Nicholson. “We’re on the right path as we come toward the latter part of the season.”
Vogt had six kills and five blocks for the Blackhawks.
Corinne Gajcak was the kill leader for the Huskies with six, followed by Maddi Henry with five and Megan Wernette with four. Larson had eight digs and Emily Kwak had 21 assists.
“West Aurora played consistently the whole match,” said Naperville North coach Jen Urban. “They continued to push back whenever we made a run. We played pretty well tonight. We lost both sets by two points, so it was a matter of a couple of errors here and there.”
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