Freshman Ehrhardt leads Jacobs past D-C
It doesn't seem like anything rattles Jacobs' Alyssa Ehrhardt.
Not playing on varsity as a freshman nor playing against District 300 rival Dundee-Crown.
Ehrhardt's 7 kills and 7 aces helped Jacobs produce a 25-13, 25-17 win over D-C in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls volleyball match game in Carpentersville Thursday night.
"It took me a little while to get used to playing at the varsity level," said Ehrhardt. "It is a big jump from junior high. I feel part of the team now. My serve was working well tonight. I was able to find the right area. Coach (Lisa) Dwyer gave me the zone I needed to serve to and I was able to serve where I wanted to."
Ehrhardt's serving excellence set the tone in the match. With the score tied at 1, she served 5 straight aces to give Jacobs a 6-1 lead. A kill by Taylor Lesner gave the Eagles 6 straight points and a 7-1 advantage.
"I was really pleased with the way Alyssa served to start the match," said Dwyer. "She really got us going in the right direction."
Jacobs (12-20, 2-6), which wasn't challenged by the Chargers (7-15, 0-8) in Game 1, grabbed its biggest lead at 21-9 on a kill by Brittany White.
An ace by Lesner gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead in the match.
D-C was the aggressor in Game 2, jumping off to a 10-7 lead after a kill by Lindsey Mosher.
Shaking off a slow start, Jacobs rebounded and went on a 13-3 run. Ehrhardt's 2 kills and 2 aces, along with 3 kills from Nikki Madoch and 2 kills each from White and Lesner propelled Jacobs to a 20-10 lead.
D-C didn't quit and actually got to within 4 on a kill by Mosher to make the score 21-17. But Jacobs didn't allow D-C to get any closer and scored 4 straight points to win the game and match, capped by an ace from Lesner.
Other than Ehrhardt, Jacobs got 9 kills and 3 aces from Lesner.
"This team is headed in the right direction, " said Dwyer. "We are young but I like the improvement. I didn't like the way we started the second game. We weren't focused. But overall we played a good match."
Alyssa Sarrazine paced D-C with 3 kills.
"It is a great group of girls, but we just don't execute very well and our serve receive isn't very good," said D-C coach Tracy Williams. "That is the story of our season."