Aurora Central Catholic clinches SCC Gold

Aurora Central's volleyball team sure likes its view from the top of the Suburban Christian Conference's Gold division.

The Chargers clinched the top spot with a 25-12, 25-20 victory at Aurora Christian Wednesday night as the Eagles hosted their Volley for a Cure.

Aurora Central (21-8, 7-1) finished a game ahead of Immaculate Conception, who handed the Chargers their only conference loss.

Aurora Central players joined first-year coach Jeanne Czipri to celebrate its conference title. That championship surely surprised some after the Chargers won only 11 games last year - but not the new coach.

"It was one of my goals," Czipri said. "I knew with the conference split it was attainable. I saw the potential in them, I saw what they were capable of and I knew this was definitely a capable goal. I am ecstatically happy."

So were her players, who used powerful serving up and down their lineup to put the Eagles (13-14, 2-8) on their heels from the get-go.

The Chargers served nine aces in Game 1, with Ashley Bohr starting the onslaught with a pair for a 4-0 lead, then Ashley Wilk adding one before four by Rachel Miller broke open Game 1.

"I can't believe that happened," said sophomore outside hitter Victoria Swigart. "She (Czipri) had us practice a lot. We have fun (serving) drills we do. I think that helped so much when it came to the game."

Aurora Christian led 18-14 in Game 2 before the Chargers closed the match on an 11-2 run. Swigart's kill tied the game at 19, then after another ace - this one from Natalie Steinwart - Swigart put away two more points for a 22-19 lead. The match ended on an Eagles violation.

"We never got our footing on their serves," Aurora Christian coach Nicole Andersen said. "I definitely don't want to take anything from them, but I think they could have served to any zone."

Mallory Gilke led the Eagles with 3 kills.

"We've had a lot of injuries, we had a lot of sickness this year," Andersen said. "We had to move rotations. Tonight was going to be the night they really performed and they never showed up. ACC did a great job capitalizing on it. Very consistent. They were very on top of it as they have been this whole season."

The 24-year-old Czipri, who played at West Aurora and coached the Geneva freshman team last year, passed all the credit to her players and administration for helping make this year's turnaround for the Aurora Central volleyball program possible.

"I've been ridiculously blessed with a bunch of girls who followed me," Czipri said. "They are buying what I'm selling. They are taking what I'm saying and they are running with it. I give them direction but they are the ones who are winning games. I'm so blessed to have the kids and the program and staff and support from my AD. Being a first-year varsity coach getting the green light, it gives me a lot of freedom to do what I need to do."