Naperville Central beats WW South
Alysia Baznik was too young to fully comprehend what it meant when her aunt Auderie was diagnosed with breast cancer many years ago.
She can better appreciate now the battle her aunt has survived.
“Now that I'm older and can understand what happened, said the Naperville Central sophomore, “you just want to push yourself that much harder because you know that she's such a great person. You want to show her that you are happy because she's living now and that she's doing well.
Baznik, like her Naperville Central teammates and players on Wheaton Warrenville South, dedicated Volley for the Cure night to cancer survivors close to them. On the court Baznik's Redhawks beat WW South 25-17, 27-29, 25-23 in front of a pink-clad crowd in Wheaton.
Tuesday marked the third time the two schools have teamed up for Volley for the Cure. Two years ago they raised $10,000. Last year at Naperville Central they hit $20,000.
Through 2,400 T-shirts sold, plus a silent auction and bake sale, the total raised neared $30,000 with funds going toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.
“Really awesome, WW South coach Bill Schreier said, “and it's a tribute to the girls. It shows how much they're buying in and how much hard work they put in in order to achieve that. It's exciting to be a part of something like this.
Naperville Central (10-10, 6-3 DuPage Valley Conference) won its third straight match to bring its record to .500 for the first time since Sept. 17. An 0-3 start to the season seems a distant memory.
“We're earning it, but we're playing a lot of good teams along the way, Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said. “As long as we're playing better than we were the week before, I'm happy win or lose.
After never trailing in Game 1, jumping out to an 11-3 lead, the Redhawks watched as WW South won a hard-fought second game and then went ahead 15-9 in Game 3. A Tigers error gave Naperville Central back serve, and Katie Battle rattled off 6 straight points. A Battle ace pushed the Redhawks ahead 16-15.
WW South pulled into a tie on two occasions and briefly went ahead 23-22 on a Shealyn Kolosky kill and a Naperville Central error.
But kills by Veronica Gall and Sammy Condon got the Redhawks to match point, where a WW South hit sailed long.
“We have younger players that haven't been in a position where their backs have been against the wall, Isaacson said, “but we're showing good signs by the fact that we didn't give up in that third game. We were down six points and kept our focus and fought back. We found a way to get it done.
Battle had 7 kills and 6 digs and Baznik 6 kills and 15 assists for Naperville Central. Chloe Lupina added 7 kills and 3 digs with Condon chipping in 6 kills and Ivy Lei 15 assists.
“We ballhandled well, which was our goal coming in, Isaacson said, “and our second goal was to win all the long rallies. The ones that I can think of we did.
For WW South (11-9, 4-5) libero Jacky Rodriguez had a school-record 30 digs. Kate Phalen had 11 kills and 13 digs and Kolosky 13 kills and 2 blocks.