Rams outlast Knights in 3

Grayslake Central volleyball was on the ropes early against its cross-town rival Grayslake North, dropping the first game 25-10 as the Knights dominated on both offense and defense.

But the Rams began to pass better and therefore run their offense better from there, surviving two grueling, point-for-point games. Both games went into extra points, but Grayslake Central staved off elimination to emerge with a 10-25, 28-26, 26-24 win.

"They came out fired up, and I don't know exactly what happened," Rams coach Jason Janczak said. "But we let the captains talk between games one and two, and they talked about being able to play better. They started believing in themselves, and it started to show.

"We have a great, tight-knit group of girls. And when things got a little rough, I think it was that bond that they fell back on and picked each other up."

The Knights (8-10, 1-2 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division) took control quickly in the first game.

Megan Falk (15-of-16, 3 aces) served 8 straight points to give North a 15-4 advantage, and Michelle Quigley (15-of-18) had 3 aces in a 4-point run that put the Knights up 22-9.

"That was phenomenal; we played pretty much perfectly the first game," Knights coach Nikki Kirchway said. "We had only two serving errors, we serve received well, we hit well. So there were basically no errors in the first game."

Central (9-10, 1-1) led by 4 points early in the second game, but North hung around. The Knights took their first lead since the early going at 16-15, but Shannon Curtis (6 kills) tied it again on a kill between two blockers.

The Knights tied the game again at 24 on a tip by Quigley (14-of-16 hitting, 5 kills) that Central dug long. But with the game tied at 26, North returned a Curtis serve wide, and Brianna Anderson (5 kills) delivered the game-winning hit.

In Game 3, it was North's turn to build a big lead, going up 16-10 on a hard kill by Falk (22-of-26 hitting, 10 kills). Central chipped away, and used a service run by Curtis to cut a 5-point deficit to 20-19.

With the score tied at 23, the Rams took their first lead of the game on a hit by Curtis that North returned wide. After the Knights tied it, the Rams delivered back-to-back kills to finish their comeback.

"North was doing a great job keeping us on our toes and played us tough," Janczak said. "Nikki's done a great job with them, bringing them up to this level in such a short amount of time. The rivalry's only getting better because we're two good volleyball teams, equally matched, and that match could have gone either way."

Libero Grace Schlagetter led the Knights with 27 digs, with Falk adding 25. Kaitlyn Klausner set 66-of-66 with 17 assists, Kauri Voss hit 8-of-10 with 2 kills and Alex Lowry was 11-of-13 with 3 kills.

"We have a really great defense; we're very scrappy," Kirchway said. "The girls are very motivated to get that ball. Our hitters did a great job, with their ability to find the court and hitting the seem in the block."

Brittany Gibson set 56-of-61 with 25 assists for the Rams and tied Curtis for the team lead with 3 aces. Anna Dlesk and Tory Dohm had 6 kills each, with Dohm notching the 100th of her Rams career.