Downers Grove South defeats WW South

It was the home opener for a team lacking a ton of varsity experience, yet Downers Grove South was mighty sharp in sweeping Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday night.

The Mustangs made few mistakes while knocking off the visitors 25-16, 25-15 in a nonconference match to improve to 4-2 on the year. The Tigers, meanwhile, struggled some with serve receive and committed too many hitting errors while dropping to 2-5 on the young season.

"I thought we played really well for our first home game," said Mustangs senior outside hitter Megan Mayer, who helped keep Wheaton Warrenville South at bay with some tough serves. "I think everybody was a little bit nervous about the game. We've got a really young team. For a lot of people it was their first varsity (home) match."

You wouldn't know the Mustangs were shy on experience by watching their serving, their defense and their overall teamwork on this night. No one player stood out, but everyone contributed, including Mayer who had 3 kills and 3 aces.

"I think serving is actually one of our strong points. But I also think our defense was pretty good tonight," the 5-foot-10 hitter said. "I really think we can use our serving to our advantage."

Junior Karina Kling led a balanced attack with 5 kills, including the Game 1 clincher. That opening game saw the Tigers lead 5-4 following a kill by Kara Watts, but the home team then went on 15-5 run to take command at 19-10.

"We've got a really young team. For a lot of people it was their first varsity (home) match," Mayer said. "But we got our lead, we kept it and we didn't let up in the second game."

Kiera James and Rachel Schneider each added 4 kills for the Mustangs, who also recorded 8 aces a team.

"We're young still, I mean I've got a sophomore libero, a lot of juniors and then two seniors on the floor," said Downers South coach Trisha Kurth, who starts sophomore Clare McNeeley at libero. "We were pretty balanced, which is what we want. We want our middles playing and we want our middles involved."

The Mustangs, who went 3-2 at the Plainfield North tourney last weekend, will have a good test Thursday against Naperville North.

Wheaton Warrenville South, meanwhile, was paced by Watts who had 5 kills and 5 digs, and Kristina Martin's 4 kills and 5 digs.

"They didn't (make many mistakes), but we didn't put any pressure on them to make mistakes," Tigers coach Bill Schreier said. "We gave them a ton of free balls and when we weren't giving them free balls we hit the ball out of bounds. In that situation you get what you deserve."

Junior middle hitter Jess Robinson added 3 kills and a pair of blocks for the Tigers.