Wheaton North handles the pressure

Wheaton North senior Grace Tiesman says the Falcons have been working hard this fall on mental toughness and handling pressure. On Tuesday it paid off at Glenbard East.

Wheaton North dropped a marathon 33-31 opener in a nonconference volleyball battle in Lombard, but managed to escape 26-24 in the second game and then claimed the decisive third set by a comparatively easy 25-19 count to move to 8-5 on the season.

"We really got fired up (after that long opening loss)," said Grace Tiesman, a senior outside hitter who had 13 kills and 5 digs in the match. "We could tell that we could match and play with this team. Even though they have some great offense and defense, we knew that because we had gotten so high in the scores with them, that we were right there with them; that we could take this game."

It was much easier said than done, however; both teams played superb defense and used balanced attacks on offense to extend many long rallies and keep the outcome up in the air until the end of the 90-minute see-saw match.

"We really came together as a team. We've been working this entire season to unify as a team under pressure and we really came together in the last set," said Tiesman, who along with her sister Abby Tiesman, serves as co-captain.

Glenbard East libero Jessie Spontak was all over the court while leading the defense with 15 digs, and teammate Elin Ream added 12 kills and 11 digs. But the Rams (5-9) couldn't hang onto the momentum they had after pulling out the opener and even though the middle game was tied at 20, 21, and finally 24-24, the Falcons drew even by claiming the set following a kill from Grace Rochford followed by a serve receive error by the hosts.

The final game featured more of the same back-and-forth, strong defensive struggles, but after the Rams trailed just 18-17 following an ace by Allison Farrell, Wheaton North was sharper down the stretch and ended the long night with a 7-2 run capped by a block and a kill by sophomore McKenna Otto. Falcons libero Allie Maloney had 17 digs in the win.

"They play good defense as well," Rams coach Marci Maier said. "I mean they were picking up a lot of balls too. It's just a little disappointing to fall a little short. Our girls played with a lot of fight. I'm proud of the way that they played great defense."

Farrell had 11 kills and 9 digs for the Rams, while freshman Allison Hamaker added 10 kills.