DVC title within reach for Wheaton North
Wheaton North has not yet claimed a share of its first DuPage Valley Conference girls volleyball crown in three decades, but the Falcons took one giant step toward that goal Tuesday night.
The Falcons played possibly their best match in years while outlasting defending conference champion Naperville North 23-25, 25-22, 25-21 on the Huskies' home court. The two teams each have one DVC loss — the Huskies won a tight three-game battle at Wheaton North earlier this season — and will share the crown if Wheaton North gets past Lake Park on Wednesday.
There was great volleyball played by several players on both sides, but no one played better than Falcons junior middle hitter Abby Tiesman, who did everything she could to make sure her senior teammates would be part of a league championship.
“We just had to work it as a team and we knew we could do it,” said Abby Tiesman, who had 12 kills, an ace and 2.5 blocks on the night. “We were so close last time (against Naperville North). We pulled it together and it worked out this time.
“This is really big for us. We haven't won the DVC in a long time. We were fired up and we're so happy for our seniors that they could win the DVC with us.”
Abby's twin sister, Grace Tiesman, added 10 kills and also excelled in the backrow with 14 digs, but the pair were just two of many standouts on the night. Wheaton North libero Erica Walker was on her game with 20 digs and 4 assists, and senior setter Kelly Thornton had 31 assists and also added 5 kills and a pair of aces in the big win.
“It was great,” Falcons coach Carole Kristensen said after the long match. “It was great play on both sides. The girls never gave up. They believe in themselves and they made it happen.”
Naperville North (20-8, 8-1) took a tight opener 25-23 after Jillian Schulte ended things with an ace. That first game featured 12 ties, including the final one at 23.
But the visitors were not rattled and stayed on track even after falling behind 19-18 in the second game. Late in that contest Abby Tiesman had a kill, Anna Grace a key block and Alex Adams slammed home the game-winner, setting the stage for a decisive Game 3.
Wheaton North seemed to get stronger as the night went on and built a 21-11 lead before the Huskies made things interesting with a run to get within 23-18 and 24-21 before Grace Tiesman ended the match with her 10th kill of the match.
“This year has been a year of firsts for a lot of things,” Abby Tiesman said. “We made it to gold (divisions) in a lot of tournaments, and we met a lot of other goals.
“We just really did everything as a team.”
Middle blocker Megan Wernette with 14 kills and Emily Bushman with 17 digs, led the Huskies, while Emily Kwak had 28 assists in the match, seven of which went to Jenna LaCorte.
“I was really pleased with the girls effort tonight. I thought that we worked hard the entire match,” Naperville North coach Jen Urban said. “Wheaton North played a pretty flawless march. They did not make a lot of errors. They played great defense. We were trailing in Games 2 and 3 but continued to push back at them when we were challenged, so that was good to see.”