Girls volleyball: Naperville North changes story against Batavia

Getting off to a slow start was becoming a bit of a problem for Naperville North. The Huskies had dropped the first set in each of their three girls volleyball losses, including two three-setters, heading into Thursday's nonconference match with visiting Batavia.

So it did not bode well for the home team Thursday when the Bulldogs rallied from a 20-17 deficit to grab the first game 25-21. But 5-foot-9 sophomore outside hitter Sarah Kushner made sure the trend did not continue, blasting 16 kills to power the Huskies to a 21-25, 25-16, 25-10 victory.

"I think it's hard for us when we don't have a full scouting report on the team," Kushner said. "We're not sure what's going on the other side, so it kind of confuses us for the first couple of points. But once we start seeing the consistency, that's when we start bringing it to the other team."

Batavia junior setter Jenna Garrett was a one-person wrecking crew in Game 1 with 5 kills and an ace to go along with 7 assists. But Naperville North (6-3) turned up the heat on its serves in Game 2, and held on after Batavia trimmed what had been a 14-7 deficit to 19-15.

Game 3 was more of the same. Naperville North's Mackenzie Schulte drilled three consecutive aces as part of a 14-1 run that broke open what had been a 5-5 tie.

"Naperville North is a really good serving team," said Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne. "They got us out of system a little bit. We have to pass a little bit better. It's growing pains. We graduated our entire back row from last year and we have three sophomores back there. They're young."

Micaela Hix and Aasha Dave each had 6 kills for Batavia (8-7). Sophomore Sam Juarez added 4 kills and 3 assists.

"We needed to execute a little better and serve receive so we could run our offense," Trippi-Payne said. "We played well in the first game. I still think we played decent defense in all three games. We picked up a lot of balls. But there's only so many straight down balls you can dig."

Twelve of those "straight down" balls came courtesy of Naperville North junior outside hitter Ari Budnik. Mackenzie Schulte added 18 assists and 5 aces, sophomore Lindsey Anderson had 13 assists and Kushner added 17 digs.

"Mostly we're a new team," Kushner said. "We're just trying to figure out what gels us together. Each day we keep chipping away, we keep getting closer and closer to seeing what that is. Once we see that, that's when we can start strategizing more and that's when we'll really start pushing.

"We definitely have a lot of talent individually and were still trying to figure out our talent as a team," the sophomore added. "We're really loud right now and energetic, which is good to have. Once we feel comfortable playing next to each other, we can go really far this year."