WW South focuses on win

The search for consistency and focus is an odyssey every volleyball coach must make this time of year.

Bill Schreier is getting there.

"We need to be able to battle and we need to play hard the whole time," said Wheaton Warrenville South's coach after a 25-18, 25-21 win over Naperville Central on Thursday in Wheaton. "Focus issues are what we need to work on, like any team this early in the season. How long you can string your focus. It's the up and down in the game, let alone in the match."

Naperville Central lost most of the ingredients off last year's DuPage Valley Conference co-champion. But for WW South, it's still Naperville Central.

"You always want to beat Naperville Central," Tigers senior middle Monika Stanciauskas said. "They're a big rival of ours."

WW South (6-2, 2-0) started and finished fast. The Tigers jumped out to a 9-3 lead in Game 1 behind kills from Stanciauskas, Amy Drabant and Shealynn Kolosky. An Emma Donahue kill pulled Naperville Central (1-2, 1-1) to within 12-10, but another Drabant kill started a run that pushed the lead back to 16-10. Two Jacky Rodriguez aces made it 19-12.

A Chloe Lupina kill, Donahue block and Nicole Sarby got the visiting Redhawks out to a 13-10 lead in the second game. But WW South scored six straight points off Naperville Central errors, and at 20-20 a long Redhawks serve gave the Tigers back the lead.

Kills by Kelly Brown and Drabant finished off the match.

"We're just still trying to work some things out," Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson said, "and there are moments when it's better. Those are the moments we live by right now. You can't play Wheaton South and have that many mistakes in a match and expect to win the match.

"For every three we go up we go down four. It's a roller coaster of happiness we're on now."

Sarby is the Redhawks' lone returning starter off last year's team. Three matches in Isaacson isn't shy about tinkering with the lineup, as she inserted three new players in Game 2 and had Mary Pollard and Courtney Abrahamovich swap positions, Pollard moving to libero.

"We have 12 people that can play for us right now," Isaacson said. "I'm up for trying anything."

Drabant had 6 kills and 9 assists, Kolosky 5 kills, Allie Wiesbrock 4 kills and Rodriguez 12 digs for WW South. Lupina had 4 kills and Sarby 3 for Naperville Central.

"I was impressed with how the girls were able to keep their composure," Schreier said, "especially when Naperville Central really started going at us. We did a good job of handling the pressure."