Naperville North finds winning with Ward

Paul Michna/pmichna@dailyherald.com

Naperville North senior Colleen Ward tries to block a shot by Naperville Central's Emily McGee.

Naperville North's Colleen Ward left her coach in awe of her performance in the first game against Naperville Central.

"I'm speechless," Huskies coach Jennifer Urban said after watching Ward drop 10 kills and a game-point ace on their rival.

As it turned out, Ward was just getting started. The 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter slammed 29 kills on the night to power the host Huskies to a 25-22, 19-25, 25-22 triumph in a DuPage Valley Conference girls volleyball slugfest Thursday.

"Who can really stop Ward?" Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson asked afterward.

"She's a special player," Urban said. "She is a very physical player in the front row and she'll find ways to score whether it's hitting in the seams or hitting off hands. She is tough to defend against."

Ward called for the ball often, and setter Jordan Pappas got it to her to score on a bunch of big hits and handful of tips.

"I was just mixing it up a little bit," said Ward, who made only 4 hitting errors while landing 7 kills from the back row. "I thought our team did really well. I thought our defense stepped up a lot. We were ready to play. We were focused the whole day."

Four kills and a block by Ward fueled Naperville North (9-1, 4-0) to an 8-3 lead in the third game. Then Naperville Central (8-2, 2-2) uncharacteristically committed 5 errors in the next 6 points to allow the Huskies to stretch their advantage to 13-4.

"We had a couple plays that you can't afford to make in big matches," Isaacson said.

The Redhawks pulled within 20-18, but Ward proved to be too much. She put down kills for 3 of her team's final 5 points, including the last 2 from the back row.

Urban made it a point to also credit her team's defensive effort. Christine Wu came up with 21 digs, Julie Chin had 15 and Ward totaled 12.

"We know in order to beat some good teams we have to outplay every team on defense," Urban said.

Blasts came from both sides. Rebecca Heath unloaded 18 kills and Emily McGee had 13 for Naperville Central.

It was the second match that the Redhawks played without starting setter Megan McMahon, who underwent emergency appendectomy surgery Monday and will be out three weeks. In her place Kelsey Hoey recorded 30 assists.