Girls volleyball: Cary-Grove powers past Burlington Central
Burlington Central welcomed visiting Cary-Grove Tuesday night for its first Fox Valley Conference volleyball match, and the Rockets rode that energy for a 25-22 win in the opening set.
Midway through the second set, the Trojans settled down, started hammering the ball down, and played spoiler for the Rockets' FVC debut. Cary-Grove went on a late 13-2 run in the second set and then cruised throughout the third for a 22-25, 25-16, 25-7 victory.
"Burlington Central is scrappy, they weren't letting anything fall, they were making everything difficult," Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis said. "We got a little rattled. Once we settled down in that set two and got in our groove everything was better."
Lily Moretti got the Rockets off to a fast start with an ace on the first point of the match. A couple points later Addy Nava also aced the Trojans for a 4-1 lead.
The Rockets continued to lead until Cary-Grove (1-0) pulled even at 14-14 on back-to-back kills by junior Jenna Splitt. Burlington Central immediately went back ahead on one of the longest rallies of the night, which Nava capped with a winner.
Cary-Grove took its only lead of the first set at 21-20 on a couple Rocket errors, but a Nava kill and an ace from Rachel Stoneman put the Rockets back up 23-22. The Trojans, who had 9 hitting errors in the opening set, made two more to close out the Rockets win.
"I was really excited about how we looked," said first-year Burlington Central coach Kristen Peara. "We had a lot of nervous energy and channeled it into execution. I think they were surprised at how well they were doing and were able to build off that."
The Trojans regrouped and didn't trail in either the second or third set. Consecutive kills by Rylie Hahn and Mia Yarnell followed by the Trojans hitting long momentarily pulled the Rockets within 11-10 only to see Cary-Grove answer with an 11-1 run.
Trojans senior Evynn Layshock led both teams with 12 kills.
"Our setters were really delivering perfect sets and we were able to put every ball down," Layshock said. "I was really excited with how I was hitting and the way the sets were right there. It was really easy."
Cary-Grove dominated the third set, racing to leads of 4-1, 11-3 and 17-5. Alexis German served the final five points helped by two more Layshock kills.
Splitt, an Iowa commit, did everything for the Trojans with 5 aces, 6 kills and 15 assists. Lauren Passaglia added 12 digs.
"They got so tentative in that first set and we can't win in the Fox Valley if we are tentative," Langanis said. "We had to toughen it up and we have to win with power and we started bringing power set two and three and turned things around."
Kathryn Schmidt (5 kills, 2 aces, 1 block), Hahn (7 kills), Nava (4 kills) and Moretti (13 assists) led the Rockets (0-1).
Peara liked what she saw early and now is looking for that play to continue from a young team that started four sophomores.
"Our more experienced players are also younger so we have sophomores trying to step into leadership roles and they haven't found their footing," Peara said. "They are a little timid not in their skills but in speaking up and getting each other gathered. We'll be able to get that through experience."