Neuqua Valley holds off South Elgin

Momentum is a funny thing and sometimes it can be gained even through a loss.

That's what happened with the Neuqua Valley girls volleyball team at South Elgin Tuesday night.

The Wildcats lost Game 1 of the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division match but the momentum they gained with a big comeback that fell just short carried into the rest of the night. They held off the scrappy Storm 24-26, 25-13, 25-22 to remain undefeated in the division.

"A ton of credit to South Elgin," said Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon. "They did everything right in that first game. They put together runs and we didn't. But we fought back and executed our game well in Game 2. South Elgin came out and played hard but something my girls did well was they locked into each other and maintained the chemistry on the court."

The Storm (3-6-1, 1-2) led 23-15 in Game 1 before Neuqua Valley (7-4, 3-0) mounted a comeback that pushed the game beyond 25. Junior Sarah Daneliak took over service for the Wildcats with game point on the line at 24-17 and with her teammates spreading the wealth at the net and South Elgin committing two hitting errors, Neuqua tied the game at 24 on a kill from junior Anne Botos. And even though South Elgin was able to get a kills from sophomore Phoebe Duncan and senior Renee Rush to close out the game, the momentum had clearly swung.

"We were surprised," said Daneliak of Game 1. "(South Elgin's) defense was amazing. We were back on our heels and we realized we had to attack and go after it."

That the Wildcats did in Game 2, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and never looking back. South Elgin did come to within 11-9 and 15-12 but a South Elgin serve out of bounds put Daneliak at the line again and 2 aces, 2 kills and 2 South Elgin errors later it was 22-12. The Wildcats closed out the game with an ace from senior Kaelan Haag.

Game 3 was close throughout but the Storm only held the lead twice, at 1-0 and 12-11. With the deciding set tied at 22, a kill from senior Emily Krachenfels, a South Elgin error and a kill from Botos sent Neuqua Valley home a winner.

"Before the second game I told our girls they had to come out swinging," said South Elgin coach Joni Plach. "(Neuqua) didn't make as many errors in that game. But I can't say enough about how we played on defense. We had a loss today but I told the girls if we can play like that the rest of the season, it will be a victory."

Krachenfels led the Wildcats with 11 kills and 15 assists. Haag (13 assists), Abby Skryd (8 digs) and Alexis Douglas each added 5 kills and Caricia Rodriguez had 9 digs.

Freshman libero Sarah Murray led the South Elgin defense with 20 digs. Senior Katie Innis had 6 kills and 5 digs, freshman Casie Swanson added 8 assists and sophomore Duncan, playing her first match on the left side after moving from the right side, added 6 kills.