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ICCP knocks off St. Edward

IC Catholic Prep exacted some revenge on Thursday night at St. Edward with a 25-15, 25-23 girls volleyball win and in the process kept its slim hopes alive in the Metro Suburban West Division title chase.

The Knights held on to third place as they improved to 6-3 in the conference and 15-7 overall with matches still left against the two teams in front of them in the standings, Glenbard South and Riverside-Brookfield.

Claudia Koch led the Knights' attack with a team-high 12 kills. Tess Reardon added 8 kills, 10 digs, 9 assists, and 4 aces.

It was the third meeting this season between St. Edward and ICCP. The Knights took the first match at an early season tournament, but lost at home to St. Edward a little less than a month ago in a match dominated by the Green Wave's Dominique Washington, who had 28 kills in 3 games.

However, in the rubber match on Thursday the Knights managed to keep Washington in check a little better, holding her to 10 kills.

"The game plan was to get them out of their offense and much as we could," ICCP coach Nancy D'Amore said. "The last time we played them they were able to run their offense consistently and (Washington) had a big game. This time we were much more aggressive hitting and tipping to push them away from the net."

The Knights set the pace from the outset grabbing a 5-0 lead out of the gate in Game 1.

"I was very happy with the way we came out," D'Amore said. "This is a tough gym to play in, so to get off to that kind of start was really important. The girls knew this was an opportunity to push ourselves up in the standings and they came out very determined."

The Knights extended the lead to 19-8. The Green Wave never pulled closer than 5 points the rest of the way. ICCP had a 13-8 kills advantage in the opening game and had 4 aces,

St. Edward (10-7, 5-5) regrouped and led most of the way in game in Game 2, but never by more than 3 points. The Knights trailed 22-19 late, but rallied with a 6-1 run to close out the match. Three straight unforced errors by St. Edward tied the game at 22-22. Reardon then put the Knights ahead 23-22 with an ace. Koch gave ICCP the lead for good 24-23 with a kill. The final point came on a St. Edward hitting error.

"We came out ready to go and with a great attitude," Koch said. "That second game almost got away from us. But we just kept fighting one point at a time."

Gianna Curran had a team-high 11 digs for the Knights and Molly Fahey had a team-high 12 assists.

The Green Wave were plagued by 20 unforced errors. Megan Barth added 5 kills and Gabby Tripicchio had 14 assists.

"As dominant as Dominique can be it can work against us sometimes," St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi said. "Every time you know the other team is going to be out to stop her. They came ready for her this time and their defense stepped up and was flawless. In that second game we were able to take a little bit of the pressure off Dominique on the outside by getting the ball to the middle, but we needed to do a better job of that throughout."

  IC Catholic Prep's Katie Harvey blocks a shot by St. Edward's Megan Barth Thursday in Elgin. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Erin Kremer digs an IC Catholic Prep shot in the back row Thursday in Elgin. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Dominique Washington sees her shot clear the IC Catholic Prep defense Thursday in Elgin. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Gabriella Tripicchio and Megan Barth, right, attempt to block a shot from IC Catholic Prep Thursday in Elgin. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Samantha Boydston sends a shot over IC Catholic Prep's Katie Hendricks Thursday in Elgin. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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