Girls volleyball: Lanz, St. Charles North ace DeKalb
If there was anyone in the Kaneland gym Thursday night for the Class 4A regional final not surprised by Katie Lanz's blistering 8 aces in a 25-18, 25-14 win over DeKalb, it might have been her St. Charles North teammate CJ Johnson.
That's because Johnson spends much of her practice time trying to return Lanz's powerful, topspin, jump serve. She knew just what DeKalb's back row was going through.
"It's awful for us," laughed Johnson. "But that's what helps our serve-receive is we play against serves like Katie Lanz and Gigi (Crescenzo) and everybody who has a killer serve. Her topspin serve is insane. She has been working super hard on it to make it super consistent. We're all so proud of her because she comes in before, after practice to work on her serve."
Lanz went to the line for the first time with the score tied at 4 in the opening set. She started with an ace, served another ace and then Johnson put away a kill.
Two more aces from Lanz made it 9-4 as DeKalb coach Jamie DiMaggio called time. The North Stars won three more points - with Lanz serving 2 more aces - to take a 12-4 lead before Lanz finally fired one into the net.
"Probably against a couple of easier teams this season but definitely not against a team the caliber of them," Lanz said of her run. "They line up and it curves and they weren't expecting it. That built the confidence of our team and we shook off the nerves and played the way we usually do."
The Barbs (25-12) battled back to as close as 19-17 behind IUPUI-bound outside Hannah Oehlberg (10 kills), though she would have had even more kills without some excellent play in the North Stars' back row to keep balls from hitting the floor.
Abby Graham put down a free ball to make it 20-17, Lanz pushed a shot to an opening for a 22-18 lead, and after an Amanda Parker kill, Oehlberg hit wide on set point.
"She's (Lanz) really hard to stop when she gets going like that," North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. "It shifted the momentum and got in their heads a little. When that ball is firing at you as fast as she can serve it, it's hard to get in the mindset when you can just get behind the ball and pass it."
The North Stars also cruised in the second set, and Lanz was in the middle of another long service run. Leading 15-10, Lanz served 7 straight points with 2 more aces.
Olivia Bambach, who had just entered the game, closed the match by pounding a shot off the DeKalb block.
"Olivia is one of our emotional leaders on the team," Hawkins said. "She brings everyone together. I was really happy for her."
In addition to her 8 aces, Lanz added 4 kills, 6 digs and 8 assists. Graham chipped in 3 kills and 9 digs, Johnson had 5 kills and 3 assists, Crescenzo 5 kills and 9 digs, Parker 2 kills and 3 assists, and Lauren Caprini 6 digs.
"I have to just give it all to St. Charles North," DiMaggio said. "They played out of their minds. They were awesome. It was very impressive to watch them play. I have to give credit to Lindsey, I have to give credit to that team."
DiMaggio said she prepared for Lanz by having an assistant coach, who played at Northern Illinois, blast serves at her team.
"She has a pretty mean topspin, and we practice and practiced it. But she (Lanz) has a spin on it and we couldn't handle it. She was unreal."
No. 1 seed St. Charles North (34-3) will play Rockton Hononegah at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Class 4A DeKalb sectional semifinals.
"If we continue playing the game we know and the game we love I think we'll be good against any team," Lanz said.
"It will be a challenge," Johnson said. "We'll play tougher matches than this week, but we are coming for a sectional championship too."