Naperville North falls to Hinsdale Central

At the very least Jennifer Urban can say her Naperville North Huskies went down fighting.

Trailing the entire match against No. 2 seed Hinsdale Central, the No. 3 Huskies late rally fell short in a 25-16, 25-22 loss at the Class 4A Lockport sectional.

Hinsdale Central moves on to play top seed Benet in Thursday's championship match.

Down 13-7 in the second set after an Ally Davis kill for Hinsdale Central, Naperville North stormed back on kills by Audrey Wilson and Kaia Schwartz and a Schwartz block. A Red Devils hitting error pulled the Huskies within 13-12. Naperville North drew within a point six more times and tied it twice, the last time at 22-22, but never took the lead.

A Naperville North service error, the second with a chance at the lead, pushed Hinsdale Central ahead for good.

"Nothing seemed to be going right for us the whole night," Urban said, "and despite that we still kept fighting the second set. I was really proud of the way our girls fought for every point."

Hinsdale Central coach Sheralynn Kellough, whose team beat Naperville North in three sets in the Huskies' season-opening match, expected a fight to the finish.

"When your season's on the line, we knew they weren't going to go down as easy in the second set as they did the first set," Kellough said. "They put the pressure on, and I thought we responded well."

Hinsdale Central (33-5), known for its hustling defense keyed by juniors Natalia Skiba and Jamie Netisingha, was surgical in attacking Naperville North's defense in the first set. Libero Netisingha placed 3 kills in the Huskies' back row. Melissa Marcucci had 4 kills. A Marcucci kill pushed Hinsdale Central ahead 13-6 and the margin never grew closer than 5.

"You're trained some of those shots," Kellough said, "and some of those shots was a little bit of luck. There were some nice balls that landed right in the corner, right on the line. At the same time we have some girls that see the court really, really well. We at times ask on the bench, 'Did she mean to do that? She might have meant to do that.' They did a good job of moving the ball around."

Skiba had 6 kills and 14 digs, Davis 6 kills and 3 blocks and Netisingha 13 digs for Hinsdale Central, which goes for its first sectional title in 32 years on Thursday. It will also be a rubber match with Benet - the teams split two meetings this season.

"Oh yeah!" Skiba said at the mention of Benet. "It's going to be a great match."

Wilson had 8 kills and fellow seniors Catie Cremin 15 digs and Alissa Valentine 15 assists for Naperville North (30-8), DVC champion which also won its 12th straight regional title this year.

"It was not our best volleyball and a hard match to go out on," Urban said, "but this group has a lot to be proud of. It's hard to look at those things know but I'm hoping in a few days we're able to look back on the positives."