Falcons fall in opener
With an indoor game-time temperature of 94 degrees, the only thing that was missing from a beach volleyball setting at St. Charles East on Tuesday evening was a little sand sprinkled on the court.
The Saints (1-0) survived the sticky conditions to emerge with a 25-16, 25-16 nonconference girls volleyball victory over Wheaton North (0-1) in the season debut for both teams.
Senior outside hitter Mattie Boyd, who led the Saints with 10 kills and a pair of blocks, didn't seem too bothered by the heat following the 45-minute match.
"We practice in here when it's even hotter than this -- it's no big deal," Boyd said.
The first game featured 9 ties -- from 8-8 through 16-16 -- before the Saints rattled off 9 unanswered points to win it, with the last 8 points coming off of Jacqui Seidel's serving.
"We've got a good defense and we served very well tonight as well," said Saints coach Jennie Kull. "I thought those two things really held us in the match because they have some good hitters."
Prior to the second game the sauna-like conditions may have gotten to one of the Saints' players, as libero Alex Coello was unable to take the court.
"Alex got sick and left after the first game because of the heat," Kull said. "That's a little scary, but the rest of the team picked her up and did a great job."
With senior Raechel Striedl filling the libero's role, the Saints put together a 14-2 run to rally from a 14-11 second-game deficit and put away the Falcons.
"I was pleased with the fact that we were down, but they were able to come back," Kull said. "And I liked our ball control today."
The Saints received solid contributions from junior setter Laura Homann, senior Julia Marks, and sophomores Caroline Niski and Seidel.
"We have a lot of seniors on our team who played together last year," Boyd said, "but the new girls have stepped up."
Amy Groesbeck, Elizabeth Lee and Jesse Smith paced Wheaton North, which didn't help its cause with 8 service errors.
"Call it jitters, call it the first varsity game for most of the girls even though a lot of them are seniors -- we made too many mistakes," said Falcons coach Carole Kristensen.
"We've got a whole new crew out there with really only two (players) from last year's team. We've got to iron out some wrinkles."
-- Craig Brueske
Wheaton Academy d. Batavia:ŒMaggie Johnson is the leader on Wheaton Academy -- and it was easy to see why.
Johnson, a four-year varsity player, tallied a match-high 15 kills along with 8 digs and 3 aces, leading the Warriors to a 25-21, 24-26, 28-26 nonconference win over Batavia on the road in both teams' first outing of the season.
"It's always on me to show leadership," Johnson said. "It's not just in the tough games. You have to be on every game no matter what. If they look to me to get a kill, I'm OK with that because that's what my job is."
Johnson, an outside hitter, was fierce in the crucial Game 3. With Batavia leading 24-23, she recorded a kill that tied the game at 24, which was the 10th knot of the game.
Johnson continued with two more kills that pushed the Warriors ahead, and she served the final point of Game 3 before a kill from Molly McCoy capped the match.
"She can do everything," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said of Johnson. "She was almost more dangerous in the back row. We had a really hard time with her, and that's what happened last year too. We couldn't stop her when she was in the back row."
Wheaton Academy (1-0) led the majority of Game 3. Batavia (0-1) led twice -- 24-23 after Kristin Hoffman's kill and 25-24 after a Taylor Koncelik kill.
"That last game was really up for grabs," Wheaton Academy coach D.A. Nichols said. "I'm glad we came out with the win, obviously."
Game 1 was all Wheaton Academy, as it led the entire way and at one point by as much as 20-9 after a Batavia hitting error.
The Bulldogs fired back after that and was able to cut the deficit to 2 points twice, but the Warriors capped Game 1 by scoring the final 3 points, all on Batavia errors.
Game 2 belonged to Batavia, but like the Bulldogs in Game 1, Wheaton Academy made a run for it toward the end.
The Bulldogs broke a 24-24 knot and took Game 2 for good after a Melissa Norville kill and a game-ending ace from Laura Doolin.
"In Game 1 we gave them such a lead we outscored them in the second half of that game, and the momentum was in our direction," Trippi-Payne said. "We were not playing the way we could in the first game … that second game was more in our direction."
-- Christine Bolin
Naperville Central d. Downers Grove North:ŒThe last thing a team wants to do in its season-opening match is fall behind early. That is exactly what Naperville Central did against Downers Grove North.
The Trojans (1-1) opened the match on a 5-1 run as the Redhawks committed 2 errors in the matches first 6 points. But Naperville Central settled down after the early setback and won in straight games, 25-18, 25-16.
After the initial run by Downers North, the Redhawks (1-0) ran off 9 of the game's next 10 points to grab a 9-6 lead.
The Trojans, who have already beaten Lincoln-Way East this season, didn't want to allow a team to climb back into the match in their first outing of the season.
"It's frustrating; we talked about getting them down early and keeping them right there," Downers North coach Laura Johnwick said. "It was Central's first match of the season and we thought they might come out a little flat and we could take advantage of that in the first game. We gave them opportunities and they ate them up."
One of the momentum swingers of the match came with the Redhawks leading 17-13 in the first game when Naperville Central setter Megan McMahon made a pancake dig on a kill attempt by Terese Byrne and the Redhawks scrambled and got the ball back over the net. The Trojans ended losing that point and were never able to get back into the match after that exchange.
"There was a little bit of luck on that play," McMahon said. "It's nice when a dig like that works out and you have teammates around you paying attention to get the ball back over. But that was just one point out of 25 points, but it did give us momentum the rest of the match."
In the second game the Redhawks never trailed and kept at least a 3-point lead up until the 7-1 run to end the match.
"This was a huge win for us," Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson said. "Of course we had some jitters, but we went out and won on the road. We definitely had some positives tonight and we will have some time to iron out some of our negatives before our next match."
Emily McGee had 8 kills and 4 digs while McMahon dished out 21 assists and had 4 aces in the win.
Byrne had a match-high 9 kills in the loss.
-- Jason Watt
Willowbrook d. Riverside-Brookfield:ΠDanielle Muhlena put down 6 kills and Stacie Bower came up with 13 digs to lead the Warriors to a 25-22, 25-20 sweep in their first match.
Glenbard East d. Glenbard West:ŒAmanda Peterson's 11 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks and 6 digs sparked the Rams to a 25-18, 25-20 season-opening victory. Brittany Cardott added 6 kills and 10 assists for the winners.
Westmont d. Timothy Christian:ŒWestmont posted a 25-21, 25-15 triumph over the Trojans, who received 4 blocks from Jamie Bosman in their first match.
Fenwick d. Hinsdale Central:ŒAmanda Freyn spiked 5 kills and Mary Crofton smacked 4 for the Red Devils, who dropped a 25-20, 25-16 decision in a season opener.
Boys soccer
WW South 2, Lake Zurich 1:ŒWheaton Warrenville South moved a step closer to the championship match of the Barrington Soccer Classic after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Lake Zurich.
First-half strikes from Eric Shrigley and Scott Larson helped seal the Tigers' second win in as many days and keep coach Guy Callipari's club a perfect 2-0 in group play.
Today at 7 p.m., the Tigers (3-0-0) meet tourney host Barrington, which is also 2-0 in tournament play. The winner advances into Saturday's championship match at 6 p.m.
"Coach told us that good teams always find a way to win," said Larson, who said his team struggled at times during intense heat and humidity against a tough opponent that was looking to bounce back following a 4-2 loss in its tournament opener against Barrington on Monday.
"We had plenty of quality chances in that first half but just couldn't finish them today," said first-year Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz. "(WW South) is a first-class team, but I thought we played them very well for the 80 minutes."
The Bears (1-2-1) found themselves on top just after the quarter hour. Reid Bergstrom converted a PK after teammate Brad McCurley initiated the opportunity with a nice individual piece of work that ended up in Bergstrom getting pulled down inside the box.
For long spells prior to the Bergstrom strike, the Tigers were under pressure and had goalkeeper Randall Babb on alert.
Things started to turn around for WW South when an unmarked Shrigley found the back of the net following a well-placed free kick by Larson that was not properly cleared. The goal was Shrigley's fourth in two matches.
Larson struck the game-winner with a blast from 25 yards on the right side at 38 minutes.
"Giving up that goal just before the break was a heart-breaker," Schmitz said.
The Tigers used the momentum from Larson's goal to open up after intermission with more energy.
With Andrew Bellmer out of the match due to an injury, Callipari moved Shrigley to the middle as a withdrawn forward, and the senior's work as a distributor allowed the Tigers' Manuel Munguia and Nico Galto more room to roam up top. Galto assisted on both goals.
"(Lake Zurich) did a terrific job of marking Shrigley (tight) in that first half," Callipari said. "But I think our attacked opened up a little bit when we moved him into the middle."
-- Mike Garofola
Naperville Central 1, Fremd 0:ŒMatt Sterner assisted on Joe Wehrli's first-half goal as the Redhawks won their opener at the Best of the West tournament.
Sandburg 1, Waubonsie Valley 0:ŒA first-half goal by Jeff Grotz sent the Warriors to defeat in the Best of the West tournament.
Glenbard South 7, Willowbrook 2:ŒJosh Payne notched a hat trick to lead the Raiders (1-0) to the easy victory in the Willowbrook Invite. Kevin Miller added 2 goals. The Raiders meet Fenwick on Thursday in tourney play.
Downers Grove South 3, Hersey 1:ŒAlex Safford scored twice and Jack Suker added a goal and 2 assists for the Mustangs at the Red Devil Cup.
Lisle 7, Reed-Custer 0:ŒKonrad Raclawski scored 3 goals to lead the Lions (2-0, 1-0 Interstate Eight Conference) to the victory.