Girls volleyball: Crystal Lake Central downs Dundee-Crown
Crystal Lake Central served its way to victory.
Literally.
With 18 aces, the Tigers' serving prowess was able to produce a 25-16, 25-16 victory over Dundee-Crown in Fox Valley Conference girls volleyball action in Carpentersville Thursday night.
Central equally distributed its aces with twin sisters Emily and Megan Kelly collecting 5 apiece. Kendall Lownds had 4 aces while Madelyn Blake delivered 3.
"Our serving has certainly been a point of emphasis for us all year," said Crystal Lake Central coach Lisa Brunstrum. "We have improved in that area every match. We were strong with our serves all night long."
Dundee-Crown coach Christine Hopkins-Muehl acknowledged Crystal Lake Central's strong serve game.
"We were atrocious with serve receive the first time we play them at their place," said the D-C coach. "We couldn't create any type of offense. It was embarrassing. Tonight, we were much better with serve receive and actually ran a pretty good offense. We are going through a rocky stretch right now but we still have two tournaments left and a lot of games left in the regular season before the regionals start."
The visiting Tigers (22-8, 12-3) started fast in Game 1, leaping to an 11-4 lead after an ace from Megan Kelly.
The Chargers (7-12, 4-11), playing without senior middle blocker Paige Gieseke (broken nose), whittled the Tiger lead to 17-14 after a kill from Emma Brant.
Hopkins-Muehl is hoping Gieseke will be available for postseason play.
D-C couldn't get any closer.
A kill from Emily Kelly gave Central a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Chargers had every intention to knot the match at 1-1, scoring the first 5 points of the second game capped by an ace from Ayana Gard.
Crystal Lake Central rallied from the early deficit and tied the game at 10-10 on a kill by Blake. The Tigers followed with a 12-2 run to take a 22-12 advantage to seize control of the game and match.
Megan Kelly led the pivotal surge with 3 kills and 2 aces.
A kill from Emily Kelly gave the Tigers the game and match.
Megan and Emily Kelly led the Tigers hitting attack with 7 kills each. Setter Olivia Doak collected 18 assists.
"It was a good bounce back win after a tough loss against (Crystal Lake) South Tuesday," said Brunstrum. "We were tough with our net play and I thought we played mentally tough."
Brant and Gard led the Chargers hitting attack with 5 kills apiece while setter Alexandra Buckley collected 12 assists.
"We started Game 2 fast and played much better than the first game," said Hopkins-Muehl. "Once Central got the lead they got the momentum. They are a very good team."