Falcons get late start against Tigers
It was like night and day, except when it came down to the outcome.
Wheaton North struggled from the opening serve of Thursday night's Class 4A volleyball regional opener against host Wheaton Warrenville South (24-12) and barely put up a fight while falling in Game 1 by a score of 25-8.
The No. 12 Falcons, however, regrouped and played much better in the second game, trailing just 20-18 following a winner by Lauren Ralph that was set up by a diving save from Kelsey Ullrich, who gutted out a sprained ankle and gave Wheaton North all she could.
The No. 5 Tigers, who had beaten the Falcons twice in conference play, eventually prevailed 25-19 in Game 2 to advance to Saturday's regional title match against fourth-seeded Glenbard East.
"I was really fired up for this game," said Wheaton Warrenville South's Jaclyn Wolfe, who had 9 kills and 3 aces for the winners. "Last week we beat them but it was in three games so we prepared real hard this week."
After playing the Tigers so tough just days ago, Falcons coach Carole Kristensen was surprised to see her squad struggle so much early on Thursday. "We played so well last Tuesday and then we were kind of shocked in the first game tonight," she said. "We had way too many free balls and you saw what happened - they were just pounding away."
The outside attack led by Dayana Rodriguez and Wolfe was just too tough for Wheaton North to contain. The 5-foot-9 Rodriguez recorded many of her team-leading 11 kills in the first game, while it seemed like Wolfe came up big whenever the Falcons got too close in the second game.
After Wheaton North cut a 14-8 deficit to 14-13 following an ace by Ullrich, it was Wolfe who got the hosts back on track with a big kill. Later, after the Falcons pulled within 20-18, Wolfe put down back-to-back winners to put her team back in position for a sweep.
"They were able to really play and execute at a high level," Tigers coach Bill Schreier said. "They got off to a fast start, which is one of the things that we needed to have happen after last week. We got a little rattled the middle part of Game 2, but our defense was the difference and we also had really strong play from the outsides."
Monika Stanciauskas had 5 blocks for the Tigers, including the match-winner, while Ralph paced the Falcons with 5 blocks. Ullrich and Liz Gullick each had 6 kills in the match for Wheaton North.