Naperville Central enjoys sweep of Naperville North

One day does not make a week, and Naperville Central is mighty happy that this is the case.

The Redhawks had a bad start to their week with a home loss Tuesday night against Glenbard East. But things started to improve some at Wednesday's practice, and by the time Thursday's match at cross-town rival Naperville North came to a close - with a 25-20, 25-20 Naperville Central sweep - the Redhawks (3-7, 2-2) were really enjoying themselves.

"We came in yesterday at practice and we worked so hard," said Naperville Central senior Courtney Abrahamovich, who led an inspired defense with 10 digs. "We realized something needed to change. Naperville North is an amazing team and they always bring us to play our best."

The Huskies (7-3, 3-1 DuPage Valley Conference) led 5-2 in the opener following a kill by Audrey Wilson, but Nicole Sarby countered with a kill and Dani Kuhn added a block as the Redhawks cut the gap to 5-4 and started to take over the match.

When a big dig by Abrahamovich set up one of Chloe Lupina's team-high 9 kills, it was 20-14 Naperville Central. The 18-9 run had the visitors on their way to claiming Game 1. The second game went back and forth early and was tied at 10 before the Redhawks held off a late Huskies surge to win again 25-20 to take the match.

It was a powerful spike to the back right corner by Kuhn that closed the match for the Redhawks, who hope to take some momentum into this weekend's loaded Wheaton Classic.

"We went really hard yesterday in practice and something just turned around," said Kuhn, a junior outside hitter. "After a really good practice and with them being our rivals, we got pumped up."

Naperville North coach Jennifer Urban, whose team also plays at Wheaton this weekend, didn't have many words after her team's loss.

"Central outplayed us from the beginning of the match," she said. "I was disappointed with our execution."

Catie Cremin and Alissa Valentine each had 8 digs for the Huskies as the two teams battled through a number of long rallies. Unfortunately for the hosts, too many of the long points ended in Naperville Central's favor. Sarby had 5 kills and a block and sophomore Emma Donahue added 3 kills and 3 blocks as Naperville Central setter Emily Turkowski went to a variety of attackers in the match.

"We just wanted to play hard tonight," Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said. "We've been showing signs of greatness, just not all the way through a match. Tonight we played well for 50 points."