Jacobs dumps D-C
Jacobs was looking for a tune-up match before regionals started next week.
Unfortunately for Dundee-Crown, the tune-up game came while the Chargers were celebrating their Senior Night.
Led by a strong middle block and balanced attack, the Golden Eagles took a 25-15, 25-17 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory at D-C Thursday.
"We really wanted to come out strong and prepare ourselves for regionals," Jacobs' outside hitter Lauren Pigatto said. "We worked hard in practice all week to make sure our offense was on. Our team has come a long way."
The Golden Eagles' offensive plan was to spread the ball around and it worked. Pigatto finished with 10 kills to go along with 6 dogs and an ace. Stacie Weinert had 6 kills and 2 aces and Amy Cavanaugh added 2 kills, 10 digs and 2 aces. Brittany Weinert finished with 3 kills and 2 blocks.
"They always come out and give us a run for our money," Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer said of D-C. "Pigatto runs everywhere. Amy has come a long way. Stacie had a nice night on the left side as well."
The block played an important role in Game 1.
After Dundee-Crown (16-13, 2-8) had come within 8-7 on Kelsi Cook's ace, Jacobs started to make a run. The Chargers had a service error and then blocks from sophomore Taylor Lesner (7 kills) and Weinert put Jacobs up 11-7. The Chargers never recovered as Jacobs (14-16, 6-4) went on an 8-1 run before closing the game out.
In both games, the Chargers hung with Jacobs early on, but couldn't sustain the lead. After going up 4-3 in Game 2, Jacobs went on an 11-0 run, led by 4 kills from Pigatto.
The Chargers took a 1-0 lead in Game 1, but never led again.
"We're not a great catch-up team," said Dundee-Crown senior Stephanie Thorson, who finished with 4 kills. "We started good. Then, they got a couple of points and it was downhill from there."
Ups and downs are nothing new to Chargers coach Tracy Williams, as she has seen her team bounce up and down like a stock-market ticker.
"This is the roller coaster ride that's Dundee-Crown volleyball," Williams said. "We play wonderful one day and then they next day we don't play at all. You can't start out like that."
Cook finished with 3 kills and Katie Cutinello added 10 assists in the loss. Jacobs also got 22 assists from Erica Liss in the win.
Hampshire d. South Elgin: An injury forced the Hampshire girls volleyball team to run a little different offense than it would like Thursday, but the result was the same: Another dominant victory for the Whip-Purs.
Hampshire usually runs a 6-2 offense, which always keeps a setter in the back row and three hitters in the front. But with Leigh-Anne Libby out, Kara Wehrs had to do all the setting.
Wehrs ran the offense just fine and helped the Whip-Purs ruin South Elgin's senior night with a 25-14, 25-15 nonconference victory.
"I thought (Kara) did a nice job of still being an offensive threat when she was setting," Hampshire coach Karen Whitehouse said. "She was tipping and finding ways to score for us."
With Libby in the lineup, Wehrs will be a hitter while in the front row and the setter while in the back. Having to set all the time Wehrs didn't get as many opportunities for kills. The junior still had 5 kills and had 19 assists, most going to Amy Wehrs, who finished with a match-high 11 kills.
"We've played club together since we were 11 so it's easy to connect with her," Kara Wehrs said.
Amy Wehrs had kills on 5 of the first 10 points and 8 total in the opening game. Kara Wehrs finished Game 1 with a kill as the Whip-Purs (29-2) scored 10 of the last 13 points of the game after the Storm (9-21) climbed to within 4, 15-11.
South Elgin scored the first 3 points of Game 2 for its only lead of the match before Hampshire scored the next 9 to take a 9-3 lead. The Storm rallied back to within 1 at 10-9. Again the Whip-Purs went on a big run to finish off the game and match, capped by Amy Wehrs' kill from the left side.
"Hampshire has some great players on their team and they work well together, I feel like today was another missed opportunity," Storm coach Joni Melahn said. "Hopefully we can get it together before (next) Thursday when we play DeKalb (to open the Class 4A postseason). DeKalb is a beatable team."
Hayley Bradley led the Storm with 4 kills. Christie Cortese added 3 kills.
Cassie Dumoulin finished with 4 kills for Hampshire. Chessa Osiecki had 10 digs.
- Brian Schaumburg
St. Charles East d. Elgin: The Maroons fell short in a tough 2-game match to the Saints in the Upstate Eight Conference 25-10, 25-13. Elgin (17-14, 4-6) was led by Kendall Martin with 5 kills and 2 blocks. Lindsey Morrow also contributed on defense with 9 digs.
Huntley d. Johnsburg: The Red Raiders downed Johnsburg 25-16, 25-18 in the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division. Allyson Stellmach led at the net for Huntley with 6 kills while Katie Lowery had 5 kills. Amy Dion led on defense tallying 16 digs for the Red Raiders (21-14, 7-3).
Crystal Lake South d. Woodstock: Erin Johnson (4 blocks, 13 kills) led the Gators to a 25-20, 25-15 Fox Valley (Valley) victory over Woodstock. Jordan Guida posted 22 assists with 8 digs for CLS while Kali Loescher led in the back row recording 11 digs. CLS shared the Valley title with Cary-Grove with the win.
Schaumburg d. Larkin: The Royals fell in nonconference action to Schaumburg 25-13, 25-19. Jessica Harris put away 6 kills at the net with 2 digs for Larkin. Claire Sherman (10 assists), Alessandra Castillo (2 aces, 5 assists) and Isadora Borerro (2 kills, 2 blocks) all contributed for the Royals.
Cary-Grove d. McHenry: The Trojans (30-5, 9-1) posted a 25-16, 25-12 FVC Valley win over McHenry and with it shared the league title with CL South. Leading C-G was Kelly Lamberti with 7 kills and 12 digs. Tori Sandstrom had 4 blocks for the Trojans.
Aimee Ewert contributed to this report.