Elgin girls takes out Larkin

Elgin's girls volleyball team was bound and determined to show it had matured during the offseason.

The determination met a perfect opportunity for the Maroons to show that they had grown during the summer after Larkin won Game 2 to even Thursday night's match.

Led by Kendall Martin and Ellen Holton, Elgin's offense ground out a 26-24 win in the final game to take a 25-20, 23-25, 26-24 nonconference victory over Larkin (0-2) at Chesbrough Field House.

"It shows good improvement," said Martin, who finished with a match-high 18 kills. "We knew Larkin was going to be close. We knew we needed to get our serves in. When the game got close out momentum picked up."

Neither team led by more than 4 points after Larkin rallied from an early deficit to tie the game at 11 off of an Elgin hitting error. Larkin took its second lead since scoring the opening point to go up 22-21 off of Jessica Harris' service point. The Royals snuck up on match point when Elgin smacked a ball out of bounds.

The Royals then recorded a hitting error of their own, before Martin slammed home a kill for a 25-24 Elgin lead. Elgin (1-0) won the match off a Royals' hitting error.

The victory gives the Maroons hope that with 5 returning starters this year's team can close out games.

"I attest a lot of that to our leadership," Maroons' coach Keith Foster said. "Mary Taylor and Lindsey Morrow were able to get the shots together."

Morrow finished with 8 digs, while Lindsey Hedl added 12 and Abby Houde finished with 31 assists.

While Elgin relied on maturity, Larkin got a huge boost from a newcomer. Isadora Borrero, who moved in from Puerto Rico, finished with 4 kills and 6 blocks for the Royals. The junior played club ball in Puerto Rico, where her father was a coach.

"I'm trying to get them to give her the ball," Larkin coach Gail Johnson said. "We have to limit our mistakes."

Borrero had block kills to tie the third game at 18 and 20.

"We played physical in the third game, but we made fundamental errors," Borrero said.

Martin, who recorded a kill to end the match, paired with Holton (14 kills) to open the game in a physical manner. After Larkin went up 1-0, the duo each recorded a pair of kills as Elgin took a 4-1 lead. Martin finished the third game with 7 kills and Elgin committed just 5 service errors in the 3 games.

Elgin never trailed in Game 1 after Larkin scored the opening point. Larkin bounced back to take a back-and-forth Game 2, despite Martin firing off a pair of kills after Larkin had game point at 24-21.