Crystal Lake South upends Cary-Grove
Tuesday's match against visiting Cary-Grove was a must-win for the Crystal Lake South girls volleyball team in its quest for a division three-peat.
CL South lost to the Trojans in Cary in straight sets on Sept. 11 in the first meeting between the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rivals, but the Gators returned the favor on their Senior Night.
Powered by a defense that dug up many of Cary-Grove's best swings and blocked several others, the Gators turned defense into offense and prevailed 25-19, 25-23.
Senior outside hitter Carly Nolan led the way with 13 kills, 9 digs and 2 blocks, senior libero Tori Falbo had 12 digs, senior middle Emma Burkle had 7 kills and 3 blocks, senior setter Cassy Sivesind registered 26 assists and 4 blocks and junior Kendall Kilberger finished with 6 kills, 3 blocks and 9 digs.
"It feels good," Nolan said. "A lot of payback, but we knew we had it. We knew we didn't play our best (in the first meeting). We just came out and played well tonight with them."
The victory improves CL South to 18-4 overall, 7-1 in the FVC Valley, and gives them a half-game lead over the Trojans with 2 matches to play. If the Gators can win at McHenry on Thursday and at Huntley on Oct. 16, they can do no worse than split the division title.
CL South split the title with Prairie Ridge in 2012 and won it outright in 2013.
"It's such a great feeling because we've won conference the past two years and that loss (to Cary-Grove) the first time was really defeating," Falbo said. "We knew coming back that we wanted to be really strong, so we worked on a lot of things to play Cary specifically."
A focus in recent CL South practices has been net play on free balls and overpasses. Fittingly, the Gators closed out the match on just such a point.
Leading 24-23 in the second set, Falbo made an all-out diving dig of a tip attempt from Cary-Grove middle Allie Splitt. Her dig was then bumped by Nolan toward Sivesind at the net, and the setter smartly pushed the ball to the Cary-Grove sideline for the winning point.
'It was so fitting for the match to end that way with all that training kind of coming to fruition," CL South coach Jorie Fontana said. "It was amazing and a great moment for the girls to see it all pay off."
The Trojans can still earn a share of their first FVC Valley title sine 2011 if they win their 3 remaining matches against Huntley on Thursday, at Jacobs on Oct. 14 and against Dundee-Crown on Oct. 16. However, they simply could not match South's energy or defensive tenaciousness in Tuesday's rematch.
"South played great and our energy was not there," Cary-Grove setter Erin Olson said. "I have no idea why, to be honest."
"Something was definitely off with us," Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis said, "but South fought with scrappy defense and good ball control. I don't know if that's what took us out of our element of how we typically play, but you have to give South all the credit on that. We definitely weren't playing the type of volleyball we've been playing the last 7 or 8 matches, so it was disappointing to see that.
We were playing a team that didn't let many balls drop, and we didn't respond real well to that with our emotion and our confidence level on the court."
Senior outside hitter Ally Schebel led the Trojans with 7 kills and Rutgers-bound libero Bree Coffey finished with 13 digs and 2 aces.