Rosary rolls by Aurora Central
Aurora Central played its first conference match in the tougher of the two Suburban Christian Conference divisions Wednesday night, quite an accomplishment in of itself for Jeanne Czipri’s program.
Then Rosary — a longtime SCC power dating back to the days of the Suburban Catholic — showed the Chargers what the level of play in this division is like.
The Royals used strong serving and a diverse attack to leave ACC’s oven of a gymnasium with a 25-15, 25-16 victory on a hot August night.
Junior Briana Flagg led the Royals with 8 kills and said she has never played in a hotter gym.
“I feel like I just jumped into a pool,” Flagg said of her sweat-soaked jersey.
“I thought I did well but we all did well,” Flagg said. “We all contributed. We wouldn’t have been there without our middles, our right side, everybody.”
Aurora Central (3-5, 0-1) started fast, scoring the first 3 points on a kill from Katilyn Rosa followed by a Rosary lift and then Gail Koziol’s ace for a 3-0 lead.
Flagg helped settle Rosary down with 4 kills before her rotation to serve. The Royals grabbed their first lead at 5-4 when Abby Konovodoff set Jennifer Hewitt.
“We knew they were going to come out all pumped up,” said Royals coach Lisa Kasper, whose team has only lost to Huntley and Naperville North in 8 matches. “I just think they are not used to seeing the competition we see year after year. It takes awhile to get acclimated.”
Rosary (6-2, 2-0) gradually extended its lead. Czipri called her first timeout trailing 16-13 after back-to-back block kills from Flagg and Kate Stefanski.
The timeout didn’t slow the Royals’ charge. With Amelia Wegman serving, Rosary rattled off six straight points for a 20-14 lead. The Chargers never got closer.
After 5 ties in Game 1, Rosary led throughout Game 2, opening with a 5-0 lead again behind Wegman’s serving. She finished with 5 points and an ace in Game 2 to give her 12 points and 3 aces in the match.
Rosary had 9 aces in the match against only 3 service errors.
“We’ve been serving consistently which has been fantastic,” Kasper said. “If you get points off your serve it makes it so much easier.”
The Chargers fell into a 15-5 hole but did make a run to pull within 18-13 on consecutive Rosary hitting errors.
Kasper went to her deep bench and brought in Alexis Banks who followed with two straight kills to put the Royals back up 20-13 and regain the momentum.
“We didn’t execute our game plan,” Czipri said. “We’re going in as the underdogs. They have some phenomenal hitters, a great setter, and we have kind of a nice balanced team but no standouts.”
Flagg led both teams with 8 kills. Wegman added 6 kills and Stefanski chipped in 3. Konovodoff set 14 assists.
“We don’t have to rely on her (Wegman) as much,” Kasper said of last year’s school record-setter for kills.
“We do have a very diversified offense. We can get the ball to anybody. That is going to free her up once we get our middle more established. Their middles will have to stay with our middle and she’ll be one-on-one. “
Ashley Wilk and Ally Kane led the Chargers in digs.
Despite the loss, Czipri was pleased just to see her team officially playing in a match in the conference’s top division.
“We achieved one of my goals when I first took over the program which was to move up to the upper division,” Czipri said. “Taking the program from where it was to where we are now is a compliment to how hard the girls are working. I’m looking at conference as a great way to challenge us and prepare for the postseason.”