Girls volleyball: Anderberg's a hit as Grayslake Central sweeps

Introducing the newest and former liberos from Grayslake Central.

Morgan Anderberg has found a home hitting the volleyball for the Rams in her senior season. In her place comes sophomore libero Abby Marassa. Sure, she's good at digging but also serving the ball.

On "Think Pink Night" at Central, the guest was rival Grayslake North. Central breezed to a 25-16 win in Set 1 and prepared to sweep away the Knights. And then in Set 2, the scoreboard read: North 10, Central 3.

It was still comfortable at 20-15. And then Anderberg took control at the net.

Marassa picked up the play by play.

"That was a tip and a kill and then another tip," Marassa said.

Central got its sweep 25-16, 25-23 on Wednesday night to improve to 13-11.

"We got off to a rough start," Anderberg said. "But our setter, Lizzie Twardock, did a good job of moving the ball around."

Marassa has been a club player since she was 12.

"I wasn't always a libero," she said. "They asked me to field the position."

"She's filled the position well," Anderberg said.

The Knights (7-16) are scrappy but have had trouble finishing.

"We've lost nine three-set matches," North coach Jim Sarver said. "We've got off to some slow starts and it's been hard to recover from that. We needed to finish that game."

Actually, the opening set was tied at 7-7. And then the new libero went into serve. When Marassa finished her turn, the Central lead was 12-8. The next Rams' server was Twardock. She notched an ace, Anderberg pounded a kill, and the Rams were up 18-10.

"The records don't mean much when North comes here," Central coach Jason Janczak said. "It's like the Bears and Packers. Our serving is a trademark of our team."

Amber Moser notched a kill down the stretch and the Rams had the first set of the night in hand.

Set 2 put the Knights out front early. Erin McBriarty notched an ace, Taylor Ebersohl hammered a block and basketball star Sidney Lovitsch chipped in a kill to make it 9-3.

"North fought really hard,"Anderberg said.

With North in control, Marassa stepped back on the serving line. She opened with another ace, and the North lead was down to 14-11. North's Abby Fish had a block kill and the Knights' lead was restored to

19-14.

"Abby is a great, great hitter," Janczak said.

Twardock was at the serving line when Anderberg went into her late match act.

Her 3 kills in a row pulled the Rams close. An ace put the Rams up and a North error completed the comeback for the home team.

Despite the neighbors playing this special night for breast cancer research, this match did not count in the conference standings.

"Our seniors designed our shirts for this night," Janczak said. "And they turned them into uniforms."