Phew! Redhawks edge Huskies
Emily McGee walked gingerly after the match, still feeling the effects of a pinched nerve in the back she suffered helping her sister find her jersey Wednesday afternoon.
"I thought I was having a stroke out there," the exhausted Napervile Central senior joked to coach Brie Isaacson.
McGee and the Redhawks can laugh, and relax, after a 25-27, 26-24, 25-19 win over Naperville North on Wednesday.
McGee's condition wasn't half of what Naperville Central overcame to tie its cross-town rival for the DuPage Valley Conference lead. Consider:
• The Redhawks played without McGee's hitting partner Meghan Bray, out with a shoulder injury. Bray dressed and warmed up, but Isaacson thought better of playing her with the postseason two weeks away.
• Naperville Central let a 19-12 lead in the first game get away with a big Huskies rally.
• Naperville Central withstood 2 match points with Naperville North up 24-22 in Game 2.
"I'm spent," Isaacson said. "To continue to fight the way we did, I thought, shows what we're made of."
McGee had a match-high 22 kills and 10 digs. Seven of those kills came in a Game 3 that Naperville Central led from start to finish. She had kills for the Redhawks' first 2 points and threw down another kill to finish off the match.
"Meghan is obviously a go-to hitter outside," McGee said, "and such a clutch player. We knew it would be hard tonight. But the great thing about our team is our depth. Kelly Farrell went out and did awesome. We've been training her in practice. It's not like she just got thrown in there today."
Naperville Central (24-3, 10-1) rolled out to a big lead in Game 1, going ahead 19-12 and 21-15. Nrithya Sundararaman led a Huskies comeback with a block and 2 kills, and a long Redhawks hit tied it at 23-23. Two ties later, Audrey Wilson and Sidney Sauter put down kills to close out the Naperville North rally.
Tied 22-22 in Game 2, Wilson and Sundararaman had kills to put Naperville North (23-4, 10-1) at match point. But Kelsey Hoey maneuvred a flip kill for Naperville Central, and a Naperville North mishit at the net tied it. A Nicole Sarby block and Nicole Ramey ace capped a stunning finish that Naperville North never did recover from. The Huskies trailed 9-2 in Game 3 and never got closer than 5 points.
"I could definitely feel the mood drop a little bit," Sundararaman said, "just because we were so close that second game. We thought we had it."
Farrell, playing outside for Bray, had 7 kills, 4 of them in the decisive Game 3, and 5 digs. Mary Carroll added 5 kills and Hoey 29 assists for Naperville Central, which won for the first time this season after dropping the first game.
"We've had our sights set on a conference championship since the season started," Isaacson said. "To continue to practice hard and play in some of the big matches we've played in allowed us to come back here. I think this is kind of a turning point for us to be able to battle back."
Wilson had 11 kills, Sundararman 10 kills and 4 blocks and Emily Cardwell 8 kills for Naperville North. Julie Chin added 23 digs.
"Toward the end we sat back and were a little tentative," Huskies coach Jennifer Urban said. "I thought we took breaks a lot tonight. We're looking for a consistent fight on our side. We're a pretty balanced team, but we need everybody. Tonight we were not on the same page."