Jacobs regains its focus, tops Dundee-Crown
The Dundee-Crown girls volleyball team grabbed the momentum Thursday night by forcing a third game against rival Jacobs.
Golden Eagles coach Lisa Dwyer had to get her team focused after it failed to hold a 6-point lead in the second game.
The talk worked as Jacobs won the decisive game to beat the Chargers, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15, in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play in Carpentersville.
“We played very safe and played scared,” Dwyer said. “They didn’t want to lose. We came back (in between games) and I said, ‘Let’s be in the moment right now. What’s done is done. Get back in the moment.’ ”
Jacobs (11-7, 2-4) grabbed an early 4-1 lead in Game 3 after an ace from Kyla Fitzsimmons. The Chargers (9-9, 2-4) got within one, 5-4, but the Golden Eagles began to pull away from that point.
Back-to-back aces from Esther Onete gave Jacobs a 9-4 lead. The lead would grow to as many as 12, 20-8. D-C saved 2 match points before Bridget Wallenberger’s ninth kill to finish the match.
“We talked about just to do what we did in the first game — find the holes, pass well, serve aggressive,” Jacobs setter Mackie Traub said of the talk between the second and third games.
The Golden Eagles trailed for just one point, 1-0, in the opening game. A kill from D-C’s Lauren Lococo cut Jacobs’ lead to 6-5. The Golden Eagles scored 14 of the next 19 points to take a 20-10 lead. Wallenberger had kills for 4 of Jacobs’ final 5 points, including the last 3, as the Golden Eagles easily won the opening game.
“We didn’t come out and play in the first game,” Chargers coach Christine Hopkins-Muehl said. “We like to dig a deep hole. Obviously it was a little too late.”
D-C trailed 16-10 in the second game, then went on a 6-0 run to tie the score at 16-16. The Chargers took their first lead of the game, 19-18, on a Frankie Cavallaro kill. Another Cavallaro kill gave D-C a 24-22 lead and game point. Jacobs’ Katie Mahoney had a kill to save the first game point. But a Jacobs net violation gave D-C the victory in Game 2.
Mahoney led the Golden Eagles with 11 kills. Fitzsimmons added 7 kills and Allie Campbell had 6. Traub finished with 30 assists and 9 digs.
Frankie Cavallaro (6 kills, 6 assists, 8 digs), Breanna Novak (5 kills, 6 digs), Lococo (3 kills, 6 digs) and Mandy Mosher (8 assists) led the Chargers.