Girls volleyball: Naperville Central wins first regional title in a decade

A lot of things were known prior to Thursday's Class 4A regional girls volleyball championship match at Neuqua Valley, but the outcome really was anyone's guess.

What we knew was that the host and sixth-seeded Wildcats and No. 4 Naperville Central would each play great volleyball and show off powerful attacks and dazzling defense. And we knew one of the teams would win the rubber match and advance on to the Bolingbrook sectional, where the state's top-rated Benet would be awaiting.

When the Redhawks (28-8) eventually prevailed 25-23, 25-22, they had their first regional crown in a decade and in the process ended another superb season by Neuqua Valley, which played great volleyball the last three weeks while earning a share of the DuPage Valley Conference crown.

Naperville Central built a 15-8 lead in the first set as outside hitter Kayla Closset slammed down four of her 10 kills for the night. The Wildcats - powered by their own elite outside hitter, Faith Johnson - did close the gap to 16-13 and then 24-22, before Closset soared high to slam down the set's final point with authority.

The second set was similar. Naperville Central went ahead 17-12 following a block by Kaitlyn Skowronski only to have Neuqua draw even at 18-18. Trailing 18-16, the Wildcats won a long, exciting point with a kill by Taylor O'Malley that followed a trio of digs by Johnson, the team's team captain who made sure her season did not end without quite a fight.

But in the end the Redhawks had just too much firepower and a sharp all-around game. Bylak and Closset each finished with 10 kills, Skowronski added some timely winners, and sophomore Kenzie Brower was a force in the middle.

"They always put up a good fight. You know that playing against Neuqua. They're a good team to play against. It was fun for both teams," Closset said. "We knew coming in Neuqua would put up a good fight. We knew everything we had to do, we had to play confident and have fun.

"We just need to get back in the gym now (and prepare for Benet)," she added. "We knew we had to play calm from the beginning and play confident and I think playing calm tonight really helped us out."

When the two programs played early in the DVC season, the Redhawks prevailed in a wild 36-34, 27-25 match. More recently, the Wildcats won in a two-setter that helped them surpass Naperville Central in the DVC standings.

"Neuqua is a fantastic team," Redhawks coach Brie Isaacson said. "It was the third time we had to play each other. We split, right, so that means we're similar in talent. We had to come here to do it, (coach) Kelly Simon, her girls are always ready to play ... I just thought that we made a few less mistakes. And when we played them at our place a couple weeks ago they made zero."

Simon and her Wildcats have been used to playing with the lead a lot lately, but Thursday they found themselves constantly chasing a talented opponent at the top of its game.

"You know, we typically take the lead and make other teams play catchup to us," Simon said. "Tonight we were playing a little bit of catchup time to time. Give a lot of credit to Naperville Central. They had a lot of offensive options tonight. They had four different options that were getting them kills at opportune times.

"Our blocking wasn't as effective as we hoped it would be. But they played a very balanced match and tested us. I thought we kept our composure very well. I'm very proud of these girls. They've gotten better every practice and every match the second half of the season. They kept building off each other and staying united as a team."

Johnson, who will play her college ball at Akron, had 10 kills and 9 digs in her final prep match, while O'Malley added 8 kills and 5 digs, and setter Ally Knapczyk had 21 assists for the Wildcats, who close out at 24-14.

"Warming up we knew it was going to be rough," said O'Malley, who will play at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "We saw how focused they were and how focused we were. We knew it was going to be great match."

Despite the tough loss O'Malley and her teammates have plenty to be proud of this year.

"After the first couple weeks, we definitely jelled perfectly," she said. "Everyone was getting closer and we just figured out ways to win and we practiced them ... it was awesome."