Neuqua Valley volleyball connection restored

Neuqua Valley girls volleyball coach Kelly Simon believes her team has considerable potential.

That's why she was so frustrated to see her squad swept by St. Charles North and Downers Grove South in the last week.

"These past two matches that connection just hasn't been there," Simon said. "That's not what we're all about."

There are easier things to do than to try to snap out of a funk against your rival, but that was the challenge the Wildcats faced Tuesday night as Waubonsie Valley paid a visit.

After a slow start Neuqua Valley got back on track and dug deep to defeat the feisty Warriors 23-25, 25-20, 25-19 in an Upstate Eight Conference battle in Naperville that featured lots of long rallies.

Waubonsie Valley (7-3, 1-1) was sitting pretty midway into the match. The Warriors scored the final 5 points of the first game, winning it on Taylor Gillhouse's ace, then held a 13-10 lead in the second game after Joslyn Drew recorded one of her match-high 9 kills.

That's when Neuqua Valley (3-2, 1-1) made a big move. The Wildcats scored the next 8 points to catapult themselves in front 18-13. Not long after that, a Paige Stevens dink sent the match to a deciding game.

In Game 3 Neuqua Valley moved ahead to stay with a 3-point run capped by a Rachelle Dejean ace that made it 13-11. From there the Wildcats aggressively executed down the stretch.

"You've got girls that can get the job done," Simon said. "They've got to do it together, and for whatever reason we just didn't execute the past two matches, so we really needed this one."

Waubonsie Valley coach Kristen Stuart called Neuqua Valley's blocking the difference.

"Give Neuqua credit for blocking well," Stuart said. "They blocked us a lot. I think their middles are quick and they read well. They knew who are go-to people were and they capitalized on that."

Stevens tallied 8 kills and 4½ blocks, Brittany Mikottis registered 7 kills and 4 blocks, and Nikki Federico and Hope Baumgartner also landed 7 kills apiece for the winners.

"We came out a little slow in the first game, but in the second game I think we started playing our game and got back into the rhythm of things and pulled it out," said Mikottis, who delivered 5 kills and a block in Game 2 to help the home team grab the momentum.

Cindy Cavanagh and Nicole Salmon each contributed 6 kills for Waubonsie Valley.

Neuqua Valley's Shannon McGowan finished with a match-high 30 digs.