Crystal Lake South delivers knockout punch to Huntley

The Crystal Lake South girls volleyball team treats opening sets the way boxers approach the first couple of rounds of a prizefight.

The Gators like to dance with their opponents for a bit, gauge strengths and weaknesses to get an idea what will work later and what won't.

"You're figuring things out in the first set," CL South coach Jorie Fontana said. "Then, hopefully, if you learned enough, you're carrying it out in the second set."

What the Gators learned about Huntley in the first set of Tuesday's Fox Valley Conference Valley Division match was that without senior setter Kelsey DeWulf, who was out of state at a long-planned family event, the Red Raiders were going to have trouble keeping pace with CL South's firepower.

The FVC Valley sparring partners jabbed at each other throughout a typically close first set, but the Gators delivered a second-set knockout despite Huntley's fine defensive effort to prevail 25-22, 25-13.

The Gators did not lack scoring opportunities. Cincinnati commit Carly Nolan delivered her usual all-around effort with 12 kills, 11 digs and 2 aces, but the senior outside hitter had lots of help. Senior middle blocker Emma Burkle delivered 10 blocks to go with her 4 kills, junior Kendall Kilberger had 11 digs and 5 kills, senior libero Tori Falbo punched up 11 digs and senior setter Cassy Sivesind finished with 17 assists, 6 blocks and 7 digs.

"We play amazing when everyone comes together," said Sivesind, whose Gators improved to 15-4 overall, 4-1 in the FVC Valley. "I hope it's fun to watch for everybody. It's really fun to play."

The loss was the second in 3 matches for Huntley, which slipped to 8-4 overall, 2-2 in division play.

"On a positive note, our defense was the best it's been all year. Very scrappy defense," Huntley coach Karen Naymola said. "We just could not get our offense going. Just a lot of inconsistencies on offense, poor decisions with where we were going with the ball.

"Every team knows that our strength is our offense. When our offense is on, we're a completely different team. Tonight we lacked an offense. We had very few opportunities to swing at the ball and it hurt. It killed us."

The first set featured 12 ties, the last coming at 20-20 when Huntley sophomore Alyson Dion registered one of her 5 kills. Teammate Erin Erb sent one of her team-high 7 kills to the floor to stave off one set point, but the Gators took a 1-0 lead when Nolan powered a spike through the Huntley block for the clincher.

The Gators got right to the point in the second set, jumping to a 5-1 lead. That run was capped by a booming kill from outside hitter Abby Marchewka (3 kills) and a heads-up tip by Nolan, after which Naymola was forced to burn a second timeout.

'I think we just came out a lot stronger and we finished a lot stronger," Burkle said of the second set. "We really worked together and played smart."

The Red Raiders stayed within 15-11 after CL South was called for a lift, but the Gators closed the set on a 10-2 run, culminating in 3 points on Nolan's jump serve, highlighted by an ace.

"I think we lost all the communication we had in the first game," Dion said. "None of us were playing at the top of our game."

Huntley libero Haley Arnieri had 25 digs, and setter Lexi Smith finished with 16 assists.