Grayslake Central tops Grayslake North

Kids — including all those on Grayslake Central’s varsity volleyball roster — don’t try this at home.

Practice it, sure.

But in matches, leave it to a savvy senior like Beth Arnold to deliver one of those impossible-angle, don’t-let-the-ball-bounce-back-and-smack-you-in-the-face hits.

The 5-foot-10 Arnold, a two-year starting right side, negotiated a pole and an antenna to keep alive a ball during the second set of Grayslake Central’s 25-18, 25-17 win over visiting Grayslake North in the teams’ Fox Valley Conference Fox Division match Thursday night.

Good thing for the Rams that Arnold is a lefty. Her deft touch from an angle barely wide enough to squeeze a volleyball through floated over the net, in play, and the Rams eventually won the point.

“That was a tough one,” said Arnold, who was wide of the pole when she swatted at the ball. “I didn’t think it was going to go over, but luckily it did.”

“Those little things,” Rams coach Jason Janczak said, “help us get the momentum back.”

Not only Arnold, but her teammates, too, had the touch against the scrappy Knights, who fell to 5-13, 2-3.

“I got to give credit to North,” Janczak said. “This is the best I’ve seen them play in five years. They’re playing really well. (Coach) Nikki (Kirchway) has a good team over there. We just were able to win the little battles — the battles at the net, the serving battles. That’s what put us over the top.”

Klaudia Basierak, Grayslake Central’s only senior starter along with Arnold, pounded a match-best 9 kills and recorded 2 blocks. Gabi Casper had 6 kills and 2 aces.

Arnold also finished with 6 kills.

“Played very smart,” Janczak said of Arnold.

Grayslake Central hiked its record to 16-7 (4-2 FVC Fox), which is impressive considering Janczak starts four sophomores in returning-starter Casper, 6-2 Alex Dahlstrom, fellow middle Anna Basten and setter Meghan Brewster (52 of 52, 20 assists). Junior libero Marina Treto chalked 10 digs.

The Rams have been playing better the last couple of weeks. They followed up winning the Lakes tourney by finishing second to the host school in the Wauconda invite last Saturday.

“We had lost two in a row, and then we got that Lakes tournament, (going) 5-0, and that just boosted up our confidence a lot,” Arnold said. “We started meshing together really well.”

Grayslake North got 4 kills apiece from Kelsey Klausner and Joanna Guhl, three from Katie McGrath, and 9 digs from libero Kayla Huck. Lisa Lowry dished out 12 assists, while Jenni Babula and Guhl each served 2 aces.

The Knights, who like the Rams are young, held early leads in both sets.

“We have a really good group of girls. Tons of potential,” Kirchway said. “Now it’s just figuring out the key to being able to finish.”