Naperville Central defeats Downers Grove North
It might be a bit presumptuous to call this the latest stop on the “Redhawks Revenge Tour.”
Let's just say Naperville Central is a different team than the one Downers Grove North saw in August.
The No. 10 seed Redhawks avenged their season-opening loss to the Trojans on Thursday at the Class 4A East Aurora regional, beating No. 7 Downers Grove North 27-25, 25-20.
Naperville Central (21-16), which went unbeaten in the DuPage Valley Conference the second time around with a win last week at DVC champ West Chicago, now gets another crack at Hinsdale Central in Saturday's regional final. No. 2 seed Hinsdale Central beat the Redhawks at the Wheaton Classic in September.
“I hate to say this because we're coming up against Hinsdale Central,” Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said, “but anybody we lost to during the season we've since got a win against on the flip side. Not to say that the other teams haven't played hard, but that's a good test for this team that we're moving forward.”
Sophomore Alysia Baznik had 7 kills, 9 assists and 5 digs, Katie Battle 5 kills and 6 digs, Chloe Lupina 6 digs, 4 kills and the block for match point and freshman Ivy Lei 5 digs and 9 assists. Kelsey Rickleff also came up big with 4 blocks.
Much of the talk surrounding the Redhawks this season focused on their extreme youth. Baznik said that goes out the window once the girls hit the court.
“We're all different ages,” Baznik said, “but we're all here for one purpose, to play volleyball. Once we get on the court it doesn't matter how old you are or where you're from. You just have one goal, to win. When you're on the court there is no age difference.”
Naperville Central seemed to have Game 1 in hand, up 19-15. Downers Grove North (17-19) came back to tie it twice, then surged ahead to game point 24-22 after a Jessie Tulacka ace. Still leading 24-23, the Trojans appeared to have a kill but their setter was whistled for being underneath the net.
A pair of Lupina kills and a Rickleff block gave the Redhawks the game, and momentum.
“It was unfortunate. Whoever wins that game probably wins the match,” Downers Grove North coach Mark Wasik said. “It definitely deflated us.”
The Trojans were within 13-11 after a kill by Gina Gammonley, one of her team-high 6. But a service error and Lupina ace started an 8-2 Naperville Central run that all but put the match away.
Baznik had 3 kills during the key stretch.
“We still have our moments. Everybody sees them,” Isaacson said, “but we're ballhandling well, even on broken plays. If we don't have a play we're putting it high so someone can take a swing at the ball and then we're getting back so we can defend. At the beginning of the season, we would either mess it up on our own side or we'd free ball it. Now at least we're attacking. It gives us a better chance to win.”
Jessie Tulacka had 6 kills and Taylor Kasal 4 kills, 10 assists and 3 aces for Downers Grove North.
“I knew coming in that the match was pretty much a crapshoot. The two teams were pretty much even,” Wasik said. “I was impressed with Naperville Central's composure and their level of execution. They had us on our heels defensively.”