Naperville North hands West Chicago first defeat

Corinne Gajcak confessed what many others will never admit to — that doubt does creep in to an athlete’s conscious when staring at a large deficit.

“There’s always that voice in the back of your mind telling you, ‘You’re gonna lose,’” said the Naperville North junior. “You just have to block it out.”

After all, there are always matches like Tuesday’s. Down 8 points midway through the third set, the 14th-ranked Huskies stormed back to stun No. 9 and previously unbeaten West Chicago 20-25, 25-16, 25-22 in Naperville.

Naperville North (8-1, 3-0 DuPage Valley Conference), down 17-9 at one point, trailed 20-16 before a West Chicago net violation gave Gajcak serve. The Huskies floor captain served seven straight points, including a tying ace at 20-20. An Ashley Crawford kill off the block put Naperville North at an improbable match point up 24-20.

“We definitely picked it up with our serving and defense,” Gajcak said. “It helps to remain calm and stay focused.”

West Chicago (13-1, 2-1) got serve back on a block and then pulled within 24-22, but a serve into the net gave Naperville North match point.

Eleven of the Huskies’ last 15 points came courtesy of West Chicago errors, including three straight net violations and a hitting error that crept Naperville North to within 20-19.

“I don’t know if we ran out of gas or what,” West Chicago coach Kris Hasty said. “We struggled a little bit with our passing game, and we hesitated at times. We need to be more confident in our play.”

West Chicago won the DVC last year, winning its first 26 matches. Until the late collapse Tuesday the Wildcats had played perhaps their best volleyball of the evening in the third set.

An early 6-0 run keyed by two Andrea Skipor kills and a Skipor ace, and two Julia Conard kills had the Wildcats ahead 7-3. Conard’s third kill of the set, a punch out of the back row, pushed the margin to a seemingly comfortable 14-7.

Conard had 11 kills and 9 digs and Skipor 6 kills, 6 blocks and 3 aces for West Chicago.

“It was an emotional match,” Hasty said. “We came in with a little pressure on us, being 13-0. It wasn’t our goal to be undefeated this year. Maybe now the pressure’s off a little bit.”

Crawford had 9 kills, Sami Scroggins 8 and Gajcak 5 for Naperville North. Junior middle Bailey O’Drobinak had 2 kills, 3 blocks and an ace in a big second set that the Huskies never trailed in.

“That third game was kind of a roller coaster of emotions and runs,” Huskies coach Jennifer Urban said. “It was a good test of our team’s character. We could have easily given up and it would have been a pretty quick third game.”

Freshman setter Emily Kwak had 27 assists in her varsity debut. Kwak, who has practiced with the team for a week, is Naperville North’s third setter this year. Senior Christine Wu has yet to play because of a sprained ankle but should be back by the end of the week.

“She held her own and had great composure out there,” Urban said of Kwak. “She didn’t look like a freshman out there.”