West Aurora sweeps W. Chicago
Kelsey Richmond said she had a few extra nerves before West Aurora’s match with West Chicago Tuesday night, though you couldn’t tell from her play.
Richmond was one of eight seniors for the Blackhawks who played their final regular season home match. After the hugs, flowers and smiles before the match, Richmond and her teammates took the court and swept the Wildcats, 25-21, 25-21.
“It was overwhelming,” Richmond said. “We were all really hyped up. We kept it calm and kept it together to play our best against them.”
West Aurora got even better news later when it found out Naperville North knocked off Naperville Central in a wild match, 21-25, 25-23, 26-24. That moves all three teams — Naperville North, Naperville Central and West Aurora (23-12, 11-2) — into a 3-way tie for DuPage Valley Conference lead heading into the final matches Thursday. West Aurora plays at Glenbard East.
Blackhawks coach Kari Nicholson couldn’t recall the last time West Aurora has won a conference championship dating back to their days in the Upstate Eight.
“I’m extremely proud of everybody because this is one of the best teams I’ve played on,” Richmond said. “We’ve never played like this before. We have worked so hard to get to this.”
Nicholson enjoyed Tuesday’s win even more because of the play of all her seniors — Richmond and Dazmine Chaney, Analise Hanson, Alexis McKenzie, Abby Schaschwary, Josie Small, Lauren Wilson and Naiah Wood.
“I’m really proud of them,” Nicholson said. “It’s an emotional night because it’s senior night. We’ve had trouble with West Chicago in the past. I’m happy I got to play all my seniors and that they played so well.”
West Chicago (19-10, 6-7) took its biggest lead early in Game 1. An ace from Andrea Skipor put the Wildcats ahead 8-5, and after another point Nicholson called timeout to settle her Blackhawks down.
For all West Aurora’s seniors, it’s still the junior Wisconsin recruit Lauren Carlini who runs the show. Her tip kill capped a 6-1 run after that timeout and gave the Blackhawks their first lead at 11-10.
West Aurora didn’t trail again in Game 1, taking its biggest lead at 23-15. The Wildcats fought off three game points before McKenzie set Carlini on the outside, and Carlini blistered a ball off the West Chicago block and out of bounds to end the game.
Another West Aurora junior, Peyton McKenzie, left her mark in Game 2 with 5 kills. Unlike Game 1, the Blackhawks were in control the whole way.
There were some memorable moments, none more than an absolute rocket from Carlini that nailed West Chicago’s Kayla Katarzynski in the face but ricocheted back over the net and dropped for a Wildcats point.
That brought West Chicago within 21-19. A couple points later sensational digs on both sides — one from the Wildcats’ Julia Conard matched by West Aurora’s Schaschwary — kept a rally going until Skipor’s kill in the middle gave the point to the Wildcats.
That cut West Aurora’s lead to 23-21, but Carlini quickly answered with a kill. A hitting error on match point sent the Blackhawk fans home happy.
“I just got good sets and I knew where to put the ball,” said Peyton McKenzie, who tied Carlini with a match-high 8 kills.
Carlini added 12 assists, Alexis McKenzie had 14 assists, Richmond 6 kills and Schaschwary 8 digs.
Conard and Skipor both had 4 kills for the Wildcats. Kayla Katarzynski finished with 8 digs and Mary Kate Katarzynski 6 assists and 2 aces.
“We just can’t sustain it,” West Chicago coach Kris Hasty said. “We know West Aurora has experience, has seniors, they have Lauren. They are a good team.
“We can look great, We can have some real exciting plays, we are just very up and down against good teams. We are in there. We just can’t seem to close.”