High expectations for Neuqua comes through in win

Coming into the season, Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said her program was tired of coming close.

Her players didn't waste time proving it.

The Wildcats staged a comeback to beat highly regarded host Naperville North 18-25, 25-10, 25-19 Tuesday night in a season opener for both teams.

It was exactly the kind of victory that Neuqua Valley was looking for as it tries to break into the club of elite teams. The Wildcats hope it's a sign of what's ahead for them.

At the very least it shows how they've improved. Last year they got swept by Naperville North in the regional finals on the same court.

"These girls have worked far too hard to just keep being close," Simon said. "We've got seven seniors who have given their heart and soul to this program, and they're fighters. They're not going down without a fight.

"They came in expecting to win tonight. I don't know if anyone else expected us to win, but at Neuqua Valley we expected to win tonight."

The first game featured plenty of mistakes on both sides of the net, but Naperville North rode some runs to take the opener powered by senior outside hitter Colleen Ward, who wound up with a match-high 12 kills.

But Neuqua Valley cleaned up its game and went on the offensive at the same time it slowed the Huskies with strong blocking and back-row defense.

"We started off slow, but really picked it up," said Neuqua Valley senior setter Paige Stevens. "North's a great team. I think their intensity really helped us push our intensity up. We've had a great start to the season and we're looking forward to pushing it to the limit."

The third game stood tied at 18. From there Neuqua Valley scored 7 of the final 8 points with 5 of its points coming on winners.

The Wildcats used a diversified attack to win with six players recording at least 2 kills apiece compared to only three players for the home team.

Stevens led Neuqua Valley in kills with 8, Michelle Madeja had 6, Nikki Federico tallied 5 and Hope Baumgartner and Brittany Mikottis each chipped in 4.

Naperville North received 5 kills from Nrithya Sundararaman and 4 by Emily Cardwell.

"Neuqua did a nice job defending us," Huskies coach Jennifer Urban said. "They blocked well and they played good defense, and those are two areas that we need to work on."