Girls volleyball: Cary-Grove outlasts Dundee-Crown for 5th at Jacobs

During most of Patty Langanis' 20-year tenure as Cary-Grove girls volleyball coach, she could almost pencil in a win against Dundee-Crown.

Those days are long over.

The Trojans needed every ounce of energy to defeat the upstart Chargers 25-19, 20-25, 25-17 to claim fifth place at the 2015 Jacobs Varsity Volleyball Invitational Saturday in Algonquin.

"D-C has really turned into a tough team," said Langanis. "We had tough matches with them last season and today's match was very tough. We expect two tough matches with them in the (Fox Valley Conference) Valley Division) and we may see them in postseason play."

All-tournament selections Erin Olson (Bradley) with 22 set assists and hitter Allison Splitt (Illinois-Springfield), who collected 12 kills and 8 blocks, ensured the Trojans (5-1) would be credited with the hard-fought win against the Chargers (6-2).

"Dundee-Crown is a very good team and it was fun to play them," said Olson. 'We are getting better every match."

All-tourney honorees Frankie Cavallaro (10 kills) and Emma Brant (9 kills) paced the Chargers.

"We have higher expectations this year than most years," said D-C coach Christine Hopkins-Muehl. "Cary-Grove is a very good team and we pushed them. Honestly, we had an awesome day against some very good teams. This program is headed in a positive direction."

For the day, Ashley Raby (26 kills), Gina Pagano (25 kills, 20 digs, 5 aces), Bre Novak (23 kills, 26 digs, 10 aces), Brant (22 kills), Cavallaro (20 kills, 57 assists), Ali Buckley (46 assists) and Zoe Sitarz (34 digs) led the Chargers.

Cary-Grove, 2-1 in pool play, defeated Crystal Lake Central 21-25, 25-10, 25-21 to advance to the fifth-place match. The Chargers, who were also 2-1 in pool play, needed 3 games to knock off Hersey 21-25, 25-21, 25-15 in advancing to play Cary-Grove.

Crystal Central claimed seventh place by defeating Hersey 25-20, 25-20.

Marian Central (8-0), without losing a set, rolled to 5 victories to claim the tournament title.

The Hurricanes, with all-tourney selections Rachel Giustino and McKayla Wuensch, advanced to the championship game with a 25-20, 25-20 win over Stevenson and knocked off Waukesha Catholic Memorial 25-14, 25-14 to win the title.

"It was good to play great opponents and teams we usually don't play.," said Marian Central coach Laura Watling. "This group really came together today and played great volleyball today."

Wheaton North garnered third place honors with a 18-25, 25-16, 25-21 win over Stevenson. Belvidere North finished ninth and Jacobs (2-3 for the tourney) with all-tournament picks Bridget Wallenberger and Paige Queffelec placed 10th.

Wallenberger had 44 kills and 17 digs and Queffelec had 83 assists and 24 digs for the Golden Eagles. Monet Charron added 32 digs, Kyla Fitzsimmons had 24 kills and Katie Mahoney added 22 kills.

Barrington finished 11th and Boylan Catholic was 12th.