Krage, St. Charles North slam Batavia

St. Charles North volleyball star Daley Krage already removed a big weight off her shoulders by committing to Northwestern before her junior season.

Any chance she would coast a little during the next two high school seasons?

No way says her coach Lindsey Hawkins.

"She's tough. She continues to impress me. She gets better and better," Hawkins said.

"She does not let the idea that she's going to Northwestern stop her from working hard in the gym every day and being here to improve. She wants to make sure she is the best player she can be before she gets to Northwestern."

With Batavia visiting St. Charles North on Tuesday, Krage led both teams with 9 kills in a 25-18, 25-15 victory.

St. Charles North (13-5, 2-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) capitalized on 7 Batavia service errors in Game 1, and Krage put away six more points with an array of powerful swings.

Krage chose Northwestern over other Big Ten programs Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State.

"I think you can always get better," Krage said. "Every time you touch a ball you can fix something. Even though I have a scholarship I'm not done yet. I'm going to keep working until I get there."

Krage had plenty of help Tuesday. Claire Anderson had 6 kills and 2 aces, Kailey Grove 3 kills, Taryn Dal Degan 6 assists, Jaclyn Taylor 7 assists and Francesca Neari 4 digs.

After losing to Geneva, Wheaton North and Hinsdale Central last week, the North Stars turned to their defense to help get back on track.

"We picked up our defense a lot from our previous matches," Krage said. "We got a lot more touches. In the second game we figured out their go-to hitters and the shots they like to hit. We got a lot of good block-touches which really helped."

Batavia (5-12, 2-2) stayed close in Game 1 despite the seven service errors. The teams battled through 10 ties and 6 lead changes as Jancy Lundberg (5 kills) and Anna Clausen (5 kills) helped keep the Bulldogs close.

After a Clausen kill tied the game a final time at 14, a missed serve put the North Stars on top and Krage followed with a kill to stretch the lead to 2.

Krage hit down the line for an 18-16 lead, and Taylor did the same two points later to make it 20-16. Batavia missed serves that gave the North Stars both their 24th and 25th points.

"I think there were a lot of times when we were playing their game so we talked about that," Hawkins said. "She (Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne) always has really scrappy teams that fight. I don't know how she does it but they always seem scrappy. The message to the girls at the beginning of the match was you cannot underestimate them."

The North Stars took the lead for good in Game 2 at 9-8 on Anderson's ace. While Batavia didn't miss a serve in the second game, the Bulldogs hurt themselves but by touching the net on four points.

St. Charles North ended the match on a 7-0 run with Dal Degan serving. Anderson and Taylor put away a couple points, Emily Carroll blocked a ball, and the Bulldogs hit out on match point to end a frustrating night.

"We need to go back to square one and realize we have a lot of work to do," Trippi-Payne said. "I said to many people this match was going to define our season. We've been working so hard. This was our chance. I think North is a good team but you can't just hand them 10 points in Game 1."

Tuesday's performance surprised Trippi-Payne because she liked how her team had been playing.

"We've been playing well for a 5-11 team," Trippi-Payne said. "This was just a very frustrating day. You can't miss seven serves. We were very predictable on offense. This was one of our worst offensive performances of the year. I don't know how to fix it. We have a lot of inconsistency problems."