Moran, Hinsdale Central deliver a loss to Hersey

When Hersey girls volleyball coach Nancy Lill heard her former player Kelly Moran was named the Hinsdale Central coach in May of 2012, she was not all that surprised.

Lill knew Moran would one day be a coach. Lill said Moran, a right-side hitter for Hersey’s 2004 state qualifier, played like a coach on the floor.

On Wednesday, Moran coached on the same floor where she played for Lill.

This time, she was on the other side of the court and her Red Devils made her feel right at home by capturing a 25-13, 25-16 victory over the defending Mid-Suburban League champs in the Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

University of San Diego recruit Lauren Fuller, a 6-foot 2 junior, led the visitors with 7 kills while classmate Emily Sulik added 4 kills and 2 aces. Setters Brooke Istvan and Leah Ferro, both juniors, added 3 kills apiece in the Red Devils’ season opener.

“It was great to get back in the gym and playing,” Fuller said. “At the beginning of the match and all week, our coach was saying this was where she played high school volleyball so we had to play as hard as we could. We practiced all week for three hours in a real hot gym getting ready for this.”

The Red Devils were ready for sure, taking a 3-0 lead and then, after being tied at 7-7, pulled away to a 20-10 advantage.

“I told the girls how much I loved this gym on the bus ride here,” Moran said. “I said there was nothing better than playing here. They didn’t believe me. But at the end of the match, they said ‘yes, it’s nice to play here.’”

The players made it a nice homecoming for their coach as they finished off Game 2 with a 10-4 run to chalk up the win in their first match since falling in the supersectional last season.

“We graduated five key players,” Moran said. “Lauren (Fuller) and Claire (Cornell, who had 2 blocks) are the only returning starters. We focused a lot on first contact — serving, serve receive and defense. We probably spend two-thirds of our practices on those skills.”

Courtney Stedman, who put down 4 kills with 10 assists, said the Huskies will spend time working on focus.

“We’ll work on getting our passes up, staying focused and being loud with our communication on the court,” said the Huskies’ 5-10 junior setter. ““But I think we’re getting there. Definitely from the summer to now, we have made amazing progress.”

Sophomore Liz Fuerst (17-of-20) led the Huskies (0-2) with 5 kills while juniors Kelly Hill and Gabri Olhava each had 2.

“It was a very poor performance for us,” Lill said. “Hinsdale Central definitely put on a clinic to keep the ball off the floor. Their ball skills are exceptional.

“On our side, it was a lack of effort and intensity. Our serve receive struggled.”

Fuller showed no signs of struggling despite learning she would play earlier in the day. She has been nursing lower back pain.

“Originally, I didn’t think she was going to play,” Moran said. “But she got the doctor’s clearance before the match. It was good timing.”

And Moran had a good time back at her alma mater going up against her mentor.

“The way I run stuff is a lot the way we ran things when I played for her (Lill),” Moran said. “So it was kind of cool watching her coach again because I could see the things I’m trying to do.

“It was really fun playing here. We (Moran and Lill) talked earlier in the week and she was real welcoming. This was really exciting to compete against her.”

Wheaton North Tournament: St. Viator split its first two matches of the tourney, defeating Oak Forest 25-17, 25-13 and falling to Glenbard West (9-25, 10-25).

Mary Cleary (17-of-20, 8 kills), Megan Mueller (8-of-11, 4 kills), Grace Fedus (4-of-6, 4 kills) and Molly Ziegler (4-of-5, 3 kills) led the Lions’ attack set by Ziegler, who was 36-of-37 with 12 assists. Ziegler also had 2 aces.

Ellie Meyer led the Lions’ defense with 12 digs.

Buffalo Grove lost twice to Glenbard South (18-25, 24-26) and to Kaneland (25-16, 18-25

23-25).