Lisle enjoys good vibrations in win over Reed-Custer

It was a feel-good night in Lisle on Wednesday.

The good vibes started with the Volley for the Cure festivities and carried over to the Lions' 25-10, 25-15 win over Reed-Custer.

This is the third year Lisle and other IHSA schools have held Volley for the Cure nights, with funds raised going toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.

The cause hits close to home for Lisle junior Vanessa Abenante. Her great-grandmother Mary Perez is a breast cancer survivor.

"It's wonderful, it really is," Abenante said. "It's such an exciting thing to do. It's grown quite a bit since we started doing this."

Lisle's gym was decked out in pink for the occasion, with a raffle and bake sale also bringing in funds.

"We had a bunch of parents, Beth Plucinski's mom and Darian Payne's mom really took this over and did a fantastic job with it," Lisle coach Matt Hrubesky said. "It's for a great cause bringing in money and for me it gets the kids ready to go. They're fired up with their friends and fans here. That's what has been missing for us when we don't play well."

On the court the Lions (10-9) bounced back from a tough three-game loss at Coal City the night before.

The Lions scored the first 4 points of Wednesday's match and never trailed.

"I'm feeling a whole lot better tonight," Hrubesky said. "We had a silent bus ride back home last night. I went to the well and did a lot of searching. Tonight they came out ready to play."

Abenante jump-served 4 straight aces to get the Lions out to an 8-2 lead in Game 2. Talented outside Abenante, one of 10 juniors on a team with just 2 seniors, finished with 5 kills and 5 aces.

"Since we're such a young team we've been trying to grow throughout the season. I think we have," said Abenante, who plays club volleyball for Sunsetters. "Personally, I think I anticipate where the ball is going and reading hitters much better now, having the instinct of where to go on the court."

Plucinski put down 6 kills and Becky Fuys 2 kills, including match point. Shelby Kretman served 2 aces.

"We get better and better every day. (Tuesday) and the match before were steps backward," Hrubesky said, "and that's what was getting frustrating. If we can stay out of that funk I love this team. They work hard, they grow and learn, they're interested in it, they're great to each other. If we can get that will to go then I really like where we are at. We're going to be good next year too."