Energized Larkin handles Elgin

Larkin had no trouble maintaining its intensity, not when the opponent was Elgin.

Behind 9 kills from Amelia Gill, the Royals powered their way to a 25-22, 25-20 win against their crosstown rival in Upstate Eight River Division girls volleyball action at Larkin Tuesday night.

"Energy has been our biggest problem lately," said Larkin coach Henry Graack. "It's a little bit easier to get up for a team like Elgin, which is a rival. That probably helped us out a lot and we got back to what we needed to do, and that's (have) more energy on the court."

Isabella Orozco added 5 kills and 3 blocks, Danielle Newquist and Audrey Shores had 4 kills apiece, and setter Natalie Kofie had 19 assists for the Royals (10-23, 3-3).

Abby Pierre-Louis led Elgin with 2 kills. Megan Alexander and Alisha Panthier each had 3 blocks for the Maroons (11-15, 2-4).

Larkin's front line dominated much of the night. Its blockers kept the Maroons, who had only 7 kills for the match, from mounting much of an attack.

The first game saw some wild momentum swings. Elgin appeared to take control with a 9-1 run to go up 20-14. It was 22-17 when a kill by Newquist ignited the Royals, who scored the game's last 8 points.

"I think it was being the first team to shake nerves," said Graack of the sudden turnaround. "I think there were a lot of nerves on both sides of the court, and I think that created a lot of errors. I think we finally shook it before they did."

Game 2 saw fewer extremes. Neither team led by more than the 5-point final margin. With Larkin leading 23-20, Newquist's serve hit the net and just barely trickled over, dropping in for a service ace. A block by Kofie clinched the game for Larkin.

"We made some silly errors here and there," said Elgin coach Scott Stewart. "Serving errors and communications errors, things we shouldn't be doing at this point in the season. But give it to Larkin, they had a good crowd here and were playing with a lot of energy."