Girls volleyball: Crystal Lake South beats crosstown rival Crystal Lake Central for 1st regional title since 2021

After losing a close first set, Crystal Lake Central dominated the second against crosstown rival Crystal Lake South on Thursday to force a third.

At that point, the Tigers were feeling good.

South, however, had an answer.

Trailing 23-18 in the third, the No. 4-seeded Gators rallied to keep their season alive with a 25-22, 12-25, 27-25 victory against the top-seeded Tigers in the Class 3A Crystal Lake Central Regional final – the team’s first regional title since 2021.

South (13-23) now gets to play its next match at home. The Gators advance to face Lakes in a Crystal Lake South Sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The second semifinal is between No. 1 Prairie Ridge and No. 4 Woodstock North.

“Honestly, I don’t think people understand how hard we work because of our record,” said South coach Annie Moore, who won her first regional title after taking over as head coach in 2022. “The competition prepares us for this.

“They were up all night. They put their heart and soul into it. After such an up-and-down season, they’re so deserving of this. I’m so proud of them.”

South led early in the third set at 6-2, but Central stayed close. The Tigers (27-9) took their first lead of the set at 11-10 after back-to-back points from junior outside hitter Alexis Hadeler (seven kills, nine digs, three blocks). Central grew its lead to as many as six points at 19-13 and 21-15.

South sophomore outside hitter Bobbi Wire (14 kills, 10 digs) came up huge late with five straight points, cutting the deficit to 23-20. Freshman Sahara Okiria, who has played sparingly on varsity, then came up with three of the biggest points of her high school career, recording two blocks and a kill to even the score at 23.

Central had set point at 24-23 after a block by Siena Smiejek, but couldn’t put South away after a tip kill by senior middle blocker Morgan Johnson (nine kills, nine digs, three blocks). Tied at 25, Johnson had a block, then junior Laken LePage (six digs) ended the match with an ace.

Johnson, who was on South’s last two teams to lose in the regional final, said the key to winning the third set was communication.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘We have to talk,’ ” Johnson said. “We know Central is a very loud and talkative team. We know our best bet would be to talk more than them and maybe get in their heads a little.”

Senior setter Olivia Apt (26 assists, 18 digs) said the Gators were driven to get back to South for sectional.

“We came back out of that timeout more as a team,” said Apt, who surpassed 1,000 career assists. “[Central] was really putting the pressure on us and did a great job, but we came back and got the energy back.”

The Gators also got strong contributions from Maddy Cook (11 digs), Layla Addison (seven digs), Joanna Kruzolek (two kills, two blocks) and Anna Hougas (two kills).

Central felt like it had the momentum heading into the third set, but knew South wouldn’t go away quietly. During the season, the teams split their Fox Valley Conference matches, with both of those also going to three sets.

“We knew it was going to be a dogfight out there,” said Central coach Amy Johnson, whose Tigers were trying to win their first regional title since 2019. “We were expecting that environment and that fight. Our serve receive kind of broke down [in the third set]. Unfortunately, for whatever reason that’s been our nemesis.

“Kudos to [South], they just went back to the service line and were ripping serves. They were not erroring at the end. We got a little bit careful, and a strong team like them, they’re just going to come right back at you.”

Central was led by senior outside hitter Mykaela Wallen, who had 10 kills, 18 digs and five aces. Smiejek, also a senior, recorded five kills, four digs and a block, senior setters Izzy Lampier and Becca Kuehn combined for 24 assists, junior Tessa Popp had 13 digs and three aces and senior Mia Ginter had 11 digs.

The Tigers graduate eight seniors.

“Everyone worked their butts off in practice every day to try and get better,” said Wallen, who finishes as the program’s all-time leader in aces. “We had a team-first mentality and everyone played a real big part. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I had an amazing four years here.”