West Chicago moves to the middle for big win
When confronted with a scoring drought, West Chicago knows it's time to feed its middles.
Emily Paschke sure seemed to eat her Wheaties Tuesday.
Paschke put down 3 of her match-high 6 kills during a critical Game 2 stretch and the No. 3 Wildcats beat Naperville North 25-17, 25-21 in front of a big crowd at West Chicago's Bishop Gym.
"It takes a little weight off your shoulders when you can put one down. It gets you started on a roll," Paschke said. "Whatever works to get points for us."
West Chicago (18-0, 7-0 DuPage Valley Conference) cleared a big hurdle toward winning its first DVC title in coach Kris Hasty's 17 seasons. The Wildcats are two games ahead of their nearest pursuer, defending DVC champ Naperville North (10-8, 5-2), midway through the conference schedule.
"You kind of have a little bit of a sigh of relief," Hasty said, "but not really because now it's round two around the conference and everybody is going to be ready to knock us off. I told the girls we have to bring our best game every night because of that."
Unbeaten West Chicago appeared to be in danger of dropping only its second game all season, down 17-12 in Game 2 after 2 Madison Murphy kills on over passes for the Huskies and a Wildcats hitting error.
A Naperville North service error gave West Chicago back serve, and Paschke put down a pair of kills on quick sets from Payton Bayless. Fellow middle Kathy Fletcher then jump-served one of her 4 aces, and Julia Conard threw down a kill off the block to tie it 17-17.
Another Paschke kill knotted things again at 19-19 and two Huskies errors gave West Chicago the lead for good.
"That's so key for us, that we keep those middles loose and involved in the match," Hasty said. "We did that tonight. Fletcher brought us back with those jump serves and that was key. She's a great jump server."
Murphy, Ashley Crawford and setter Sarah Romberg each had 2 kills, Romberg adding 5 assists for Naperville North.
"Those two middles are their go-to players," Huskies coach Jennifer Urban said. "Whenever you can successfully set your middles a lot you're going to be successful.
"I was a little disappointed that we didn't come out with more fight. This was an opportunity to play a really strong team. We missed an opportunity tonight."
West Chicago never trailed in a dominant Game 1. Fletcher threw down 2 kills and Conard jump-served a pair of aces for a quick 7-2 advantage. Ahead 18-15, West Chicago put the game away with a 5-1 run, capped by Conard's clever sleight of hand as she faked a big swing and tipped the kill into a hole in the middle of the Huskies defense.
"We've been practicing a bunch of different trick plays or clever sets," Illinois recruit Conard said. "Our setter is doing a great job of getting us the ball and faking out those blockers."