Girls volleyball: Dundee-Crown tops rival for 1st FVC win
Dundee-Crown volleyball coach Christine Hopkins-Muehl realizes the Fox Valley Conference is one of the best leagues in the state of Illinois.
With victories in the FVC hard to come by, the Chargers claimed their first conference win of the season with a hard-fought 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 victory over District 300 rival Jacobs in Algonquin Tuesday night.
"We know this is a great conference and we just want to be competitive and play hard in every match," said the D-C coach. "This is a great win against our district rival on their home turf. Our hard work and effort came to fruition. We hope this win will give us confidence for the rest of the season."
In the decisive third game, the Chargers (3-9, 1-6) looked to be in trouble when Jacobs took a 17-10 lead on a kill by Kristen Wilson. But the Chargers, propelled by 4 kills from MacKenzie Field, scored 7 straight points to tie the game at 17-17.
There were 5 lead changes before the Chargers won the game and match on a block by senior Hannah Krispin.
"This is a great win against our rival," said Krispin. "Coach did a great job of keeping us calm and positive when the match got tight. We had a good mindset coming into the match and we really wanted and needed this win."
Makena Wesol paced the Chargers with 13 kills while Natalia Smeich collected 12 kills. Field contributed 11 kills with 5 aces and Krispin had 5 kills with 3 blocks.
Junior setter Jenna Brown set the Chargers offense up efficiently with 30 assists.
After losing Game 1, Jacobs (6-6, 3-3) battled back to win Game 2 and knot the match at 1-1.
With the game tied at 5, the Golden Eagles went on a critical 6-0 run to take an 11-5 advantage.
Two aces by Maddie Breeze and two kills each by Wilson and Maggie Wallenberger keyed the run.
The resilient Chargers didn't give in and eventually tied the game at 20 on a kill by Smeich.
The Golden Eagles won the game on a kill by Jaclyn Poirier.
"We really struggled in the first game and just didn't play well," said Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer. "In the first game, our passing was atrocious. It was obvious we didn't play well. I am proud we came back and battled in the second and third games. Give D-C credit. They played very well."
Wallenberger paced the Golden Eagles with 11 kills and 4 blocks while Poirier collected 7 kills.
Ireland Van Stone and Wilson added 5 kills apiece for Jacobs. Setter Rachel Kaczorowski had 23 assists.