Neuqua ends UEC season with win
The near future may have been big in the minds of the Neuqua Valley girls volleyball players, but that's not to say they weren't prepared to take care of the present Thursday night.
The Wildcats, who take on a powerful Benet squad next week in a tuneup for the state series, traveled to Roselle to close out the Upstate Eight Conference portion of the season. Despite the possibility of looking ahead, the Wildcats were sharp in knocking off the Lancers 25-16, 25-12 to improve to 20-8 overall and 8-2 in the UEC.
"It was an important match to stay focused and not let up our guard," versatile Neuqua Valley hitter/setter Paige Stevens said. "We're ending our regular season strong. Conference didn't turn out quite the way we wanted it to, but we're playing well now and getting ready for Benet."
Lake Park (10-17, 4-6) hung tough for most of Game 1, but in the end too many serve receive errors did in the hosts, The Lancers trailed 13-10 following a wining tip by Chelsea Gieseke, and later pulled within 16-14 on a winner by Sarah Pudell. But tough serving by the Wildcats enabled them to pull out the opener with Genevieve Dejean picking up an ace and Lake Park misplaying two more serves down the stretch in Game 1.
"It's serve receive. That's what it is," Lake Park coach Kate Clifton said. "We are our own worst enemy and we know it."
Neuqua Valley, noticing a opening in the Lake Park defense, dominated Game 2 behind the strong serving of Nikki Federico and Danielle Seibert, who combined for 9 aces on the night.
"We've been doing real well on our serving and we just went after it tonight," said Stevens, who had 9 kills and 8 assists in the match.
Even with setter Hope Baumgartner out of action, Neuqua Valley ran a smooth attack with both Stevens and Seibert distributing the ball well.
"We have a big match with Benet and we hope to see them again in the (regional) finals," Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. "So this is really preparation for the postseason. We kind of got off to a slow start tonight, but then they got going."
For Lake Park, Katie Mueller had a pair of big block kills and senior Noelle Fanella had 3 kills and a block, but it was not enough to slow the Wildcats.
"We have to get out of the confidence slumps," Clifton said. "Every one of the girls has the skill and the talent. We just have to play more confident."
-- Stan Goff
WW South d. Glenbard East:ŒMonika Stanciauskas had 4 blocks, Dayanna Rodriguez added 3 kills and 4 digs, and Katie Kane notched 2 kills and 2 blocks for the Tigers (25-3, 12-0), ranked third in the Daily Herald Top 20, in a 25-12, 25-14 DuPage Valley Conference win.
Willowbrook d. Timothy Christian:ŒStacie Bower had 5 assists and 1 aces for the Warriors in a 25-15, 25-19 nonconference victory in Villa Park.
Naperville Central d. West Chicago:ŒRebecca Heath had 8 kills and 3 digs to lead the Redhawks to a 25-9, 25-10 victory in the DuPage Valley Conference. Emily McGee added 3 kills and 10 digs, Megan McMahon set for 11 assists and had 3 digs, and Megan Bray tallied 3 digs and 3 kills for Naperville Central.
Wheaton Academy d. Driscoll:ŒThe Warriors scored a 25-13, 25-20 nonconference victory at Driscoll (4-22) despite 5 kills and 2 blocks from the Highlanders' Bridget DelBoccio. Sophomore Christy Driscoll added 4 kills and 2 blocks.
Boys soccer
Downers Grove South 5, York 0:ŒSteve Lucianek and Mark Dismang each scored a pair of goals in a West Suburban Conference crossover match in Elmhurst. Brett Petricek earned the shutout in goal with 4 saves for the Mustangs (16-2-3).
Neuqua Valley 3, East Aurora 3:ŒScott Davis, Paul Box and Bret Hruby scored second-half goals as the Wildcats (16-1-4, 8-0-2) rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the Upstate Eight Conference. Alberto Lopez scored twice for East Aurora (13-5-4, 5-1-3).