Girls volleyball: Conant rallies to down Mundelein
There wasn't a rally cap in sight amongst the fans in the good-sized crowd Wednesday night in the Conant gym.
It didn't matter, though, because the Cougars' girls volleyball team was in full comeback mode against visiting Mundelein.
Conant, which trailed late in each set, fought back both times to claim a 25-21, 25-21 victory over the Mustangs.
Senior outside hitter Farah Cisse led the way for the Cougars, who improved to 3-0 on the season, with 8 kills and 12 digs.
"She came up big for us," said Conant coach Drewann Pancratz of Cisse. "She's a very dynamic player, and she does a lot for us in the front row and in the back row."
In the first set, it was Mundelein's turn to rally.
After some early errors the Mustangs trailed 6-1, but with libero Isabella Feijoo playing an inspired game, they came back to grab the lead at 18-16.
"They're full of energy," said Mundelein coach George Dressen of his team, "but sometimes it's just a matter of controlling it. We do at times have rookie mistakes, but we try to get through them. We're a very young team - we have three sophomores on the court as starters - and we're learning as we go, and they're getting more confident as the season goes on."
A kill off the block by Mundelein sophomore outside hitter Maggie O'Brien put the Mustangs up 19-17 in Set 1.
An ace from Mustangs senior Bridget Ouimet followed that up, but Conant righted the ship and won the set on a kill from Cisse.
Then in Set 2, Mundelein led most of the way and took a 19-16 lead after an ace by Feijoo.
But Conant was able to rally again, and after a tip kill by Cisse tied the set at 21-21, the senior served up the next 4 points to claim the victory, the final point coming after a tremendous dig from Cisse.
Mundelein's Feijoo finished the night 14-of-15 on serve receive with 13 digs, sophomore Skylar Brown set 24-of-25, while Ouimet was strong on serve with 3 aces.
"At the end of the night," said Dressen, "whether we have a win or a loss in the column, the kids are feeling good about what they're doing on the floor. They're getting better each time we play."
Junior Angelica Sudol had 5 kills on the night for Conant. Her teammate Jiya Patel, a senior, pitched in with 13 digs, while junior Gianna Spetka finished with 20 assists.
"We have a very solid group of student-athletes," said Pancratz. "We did struggle a little with serve and serve receive today, it wasn't our best, but I'm proud of the girls for continuing to fight back. They never lost confidence in themselves, which is huge for us. They continued to battle and came out on top."