Naperville North answers Rams' challenge

Glenbard East is improved this season. That was plain to see during Game 2 of Tuesday night's match at Naperville North.

After Megan McGuire ripped a kill for the visitors, Rams coach Marci Maier sprung off the bench to cheer her team as Naperville North coach Jennifer Urban called a timeout.

When the teams returned to the court, Glenbard East's Brittany Cardott blocked a tip to put the Rams ahead 14-10.

But then Naperville North flexed its muscle and showed why it's ranked 27th in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com.

Colleen Ward powered a surge for the Huskies, who took off on a 10-1 run en route to registering a 25-18, 25-19 sweep in a DuPage Valley Conference girls volleyball match.

Urban delivered a simple message to her players in Game 2.

"I told them that we needed to pick it up on our side of the net because Glenbard East was putting up a fight and we needed to match their intensity," Urban said.

Ward titled Game 2 to her team in a hurry, drilling a kill from the back row before putting down back-to-back blocks. The senior outside hitter added 3 more kills in the run that gave Naperville North (18-2, 8-1) a 20-15 lead.

"I don't think it was our best game, but we stepped it up when we needed to," said Ward, who wound up with 14 kills and 3 blocks. "Our whole team was kind of like, 'That's enough. We need to start picking it up right now.' "

However, Glenbard East (9-6, 5-4) didn't go home quietly. An Alyssa Gianatasio kill, another Cardott block and a Huskies hit out of bounds brought the Rams within 20-18.

But Naperville North answered with a 4-0 spurt before winning the match on a Ward kill from the right side.

Jordan Pappas collected 27 assists, Christine Wu totaled 12 digs and Sidney Sauter spiked 6 kills for the Huskies.

Glenbard East received 5 kills, 2 aces and a block from Amanda Peterson. Gianatasio finished with 4 kills and 10 digs for the Rams.

"We played with a lot of heart like we usually do," Maier said. "Defensively, we picked up a lot more balls in the second game and gave ourselves opportunities.

"Realistically, we were right where we wanted to be in that second game. All we needed was one more rotation to get Peterson back in the front row. We didn't side out quick enough to get the matchups that we wanted."