Glenbard South shows a little fight

Sherry Hudson is starting to see fight in her young Glenbard South volleyball team.

And she likes it.

"People are picking it up," Hudson said. "They're starting to get that we need everybody in it together."

The Raiders, down 10-4 in Game 3 after winning the first game, fought back to take a 25-21, 19-25, 25-22 win over Batavia on Thursday night in Glen Ellyn.

"A lot of time we've had trouble finishing," Raiders junior Bridget Anderson said. "We just had the drive to win tonight."

Glenbard South (10-11, 4-6 Western Sun Conference) avenged its second early-season loss this week to a league opponent. The Raiders, who lost to Batavia in two games in September, beat Kaneland on Tuesday.

"Our goal was to be undefeated in the conference the second half, that was after we played Geneva again," Hudson said. "So far, so good. I've challenged the girls to have the energy to finish. That's what separates good teams and great teams. Tonight we were great in that regard."

After splitting the first two games, Batavia grabbed what appeared to be a commanding 10-4 lead on a pair of Ashley Colby aces and a Glenbard South service error. But the Raiders came all the way back to tie it at 18-18 on a kill by junior middle Mary Dodge. A Dodge block gave Glenbard South a 21-19 lead after an Andrea Brophy ace.

Batavia down 22-19, pulled within 22-21 on a pair of Kelsey Vandenborn kills. But two Bulldogs hitting errors set Glenbard South up at match point, and freshman Jane Trzaska slammed down a kill to win it.

Vandenborn had 11 kills and Caitlin Piechota 10 kills for Batavia (15-10, 6-4).

"They got us out of system a lot," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said, "and we uncharacteristically did not hit well out of the back row. We normally do. We were tentative. Give Glenbard South credit. They went after all of our weaknesses."

Trzaska had 9 kills, 3 aces and 13 digs. Fellow outside Anderson was huge in Game 3 with 4 of her 8 kills, 3 of them after Glenbard South trailed 18-14.

"That first game I was getting blocked a lot," Anderson said, "and I think I was holding back a little bit.

"That third game I went all out."