Kaneland rolls Rochelle
Every so often Kaneland’s Wichita State-bound senior Katy Dudzinski hits the volleyball so hard it not only puts a point on the scoreboard for the Knights but it gives her team that little extra emotional edge.
Dudzinski was at it again Thursday night in Kaneland’s 25-19, 25-21 victory over Rochelle, rocketing a kill off the Hubs’ Sara Glaser during the Knights’ run to end Game 1 and blasting another thunderous kill late in Game 2.
Dudzinski finished with a match-high 11 kills plus 2 aces and 2 blocks.
“I like it, I get really excited,” Dudzinski said. “It’s fun to help the team both playing and the emotional side of it.”
Rochelle (5-7, 1-3 Northern Illinois Conference East Division) isn’t blessed with a lot of height which made stopping Dudzinski that much harder.
“We didn’t make No. 2 (Dudzinski) think out there,” Rochelle coach John Pfaff said. “When you are hitting over 5-foot-7 girls, you don’t have to think. I’d at least would have liked to touch a couple more balls on digging. We don’t have the height to block her. We need to do like we did vs. DeKalb (a 3-game loss) when we were digging everything.”
Dudzinski actually starts the match on the bench and comes in on the first rotation. She made her presence felt quickly in Game 1 upon entering with a kill for a 3-1 lead.
Kaneland led 11-6 when it was Dudzinski’s turn to rotate out. By the time she came back in the lead had narrowed to 14-13, but she quickly helped put Kaneland back in control with three kills during the next seven points.
Grace Fabrizius ended Game 1 with a cross-court kill on a set from Lauren Banbury, who finished second on the Knights with 6 kills.
Dudzinski served the first point to open Game 2. The Knights led 21-11 at one point before struggling to close out the Hubs. Kaneland missed 6 serves in Game 2 and 9 in the match as coach Todd Weimer tried several different rotations and also gave his middle hitters a chance to serve.
“Scoreboard-wise was close,” Weimer said. “There are a lot of things we still need to work on like defense. How many balls didn’t we go after? We’re going to get after it tomorrow in practice.
“But really nice to get the girls some playing time and see what they can do and get them seasoned in.”
Kylie Siebert led the defensive effort with 11 digs. Ashley Prost (13 assists, 5 digs) and Jenny Lubic (10 assists, 1 ace) split the setting duties and continued to impress Dudzinski in their first year taking over for Jessica Lubic, now at Northern Illinois.
“Jenny and Ashley, one thing I noticed with them the first day of camp is they work,” Dudzinski said. “They want to work. Some people say, ‘It’s my break, let’s eat’ but they before I could ask were like, ‘Can we set?’ They are always looking to get better. They have a lot of heart.”
Kaneland (13-4, 2-1) remains a game behind DeKalb in the conference standings. The Knights already are pointing to the rematch with the Barbs at home Oct. 11, and their four losses all have come to quality teams — DeKalb, West Chicago and Glenbard West twice.
“We kind of hit a rough spot against Sycamore so we are trying to gain some momentum with this game,” Dudzinski said. “I think we’re getting things done. We are winning even if we are not at our best. You learn from every game whether you win or lose.”