Crisp serving keys Lisle’s regional win
Lisle used a strong serving game to get past Luther North and earn a victory in the opening round of the Class 2A Aurora Christian regional.
Playing as the No. 3 seed, the Lions tallied 13 service aces en route to a 25-7, 25-14 victory against the sixth-seeded Wildcats.
Lisle moves on to face second seed Westmont at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s something we work on all the time,” Lisle coach Matt Hrubesky said of his team’s serving. “We were helped out with some errors on the other side, but when you put the ball in play, you’ve got a chance to score a point.”
The Lions made quick work of their opponent in Game 1, which lasted only 10 minutes. Lisle connected on its first three attack attempts that resulted in a kill by Robyn Griffin and two kills by Lauren Holub.
Setter Hope Kiesling managed three straight service aces that put her team up 9-0.
Luther North managed only three points off its own attack attempts in Game 1 as the Wildcats’ other four points came off Lisle errors.
Lisle jumped out to an 8-1 lead in Game 2 off the strength of five straight kills by Summer Stitt.
Luther North inched its way back into the contest, outscoring the Lions 12-5 at one point and cutting their lead to 14-13.
“We had a stretch in the second game where we didn’t handle the ball very well,” Hrubesky said. “We play Westmont tomorrow and they’ve beaten us twice this year. We know we need to play crisp and clean against them.”
After the Wildcats cut the Lions’ lead to one, Lisle responded with an 11-1 run to close the match.
After a Luther North attack error, Kiesling tallied her fourth service ace on the night to put her team up 16-13. Holub followed with all four of her service aces during the winning stretch.
Griffin tallied a kill to put her team up 24-14 and a Wildcats attack error ended the match.
“It’s always easier to play with a lead,” Hrubesky said. “You get a lead, players relax and they don’t worry about the next point. We’ve tended to play the scoreboard rather than the game and we’re trying to work through that.”
Stitt led the Lions with 6 kills while Holub was second with 5. Kiesling and Holub each finished with a team-leading 4 aces.