Wheaton North wins a thriller

Only one could win Tuesday's long DuPage Valley Conference battle, but both teams could take away something to hang their hats on.

Wheaton North pulled out a thrilling 25-20, 17-25, 27-25 girls volleyball match at Naperville Central to stay perfect in the conference at 3-0 while improving to 14-5 overall. But the Redhawks, despite coming up just short, showed a lot of heart and had several players come up big at key times against the Falcons.

"Today was a fun match to be a part of. I thought Wheaton North did a great job," Naperville Central coach Jeff Danbom said. "It was a good battle back and forth. I was proud of the girls with how they played hard."

Game 1 was tight throughout before the visitors went on a 6-point run after things were knotted at 16. Grace Tiesman had a kill and 6-foot-2 Hayley Horner 2 big blocks during the run as Wheaton North took control of the opening game, which Tiesman ended with a soaring kill from the left side.

But the Redhawks (9-9, 2-2) battled back to take Game 2 and also rallied late to tie things up at 24-24 and 25-25 in the decisive third game before falling just short. Falcons co-captain Kelly Thornton set up Alex Adams and Anna Grace for the final 2 kills that gave the match to the Falcons.

But it took nice efforts from several players on each side. Wheaton North libero Erica Walker continued her stellar play this season, Grace Tesiman had 13 kills and 4 digs, and Grace added 8 kills. Blocking also played a big role as Horner had 5 blocks and Abby Tiesman, Grace's twin sister, contributed 4 kills and 6 blocks.

"We really wanted to focus on our blocks because that was going to be a game changer against their big outsides, and middle," said Grace Teisman, a junior. "We wanted to work together and keep our heads. We kept a level head late and that made a difference."

To the Redhawks' credit, they battled back after dropping the first game and then erased deficits of 17-12 and 24-21 in the finale to push the match to the limit. Outside hitters Sam Herron and Kristina Bellavia combined for 22 kills in the match and Herron thinks her team grew a little on the night and hopes the growth will lead to more wins later this season.

"We definitely have a long way to go, but I think that was probably a breakthrough point for us for the season," Herron said. "We fought really hard. We have a lot of things put together and our team is working well. We just have the little details to fix. Once we fix those little problems our team will be completely different. But we were right there tonight."