Neuqua Valley spoils DeKalb's senior night
On a night that a raucous DeKalb crowd celebrated its seniors, Neuqua Valley senior Liel Thomas crashed the party with 11 kills, leading the Wildcats to a 25-21, 25-16 win over the Barbs in DuPage Valley Conference action.
"She's coming on strong, playing six rotations," Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. "She's been attacking from the front and the back."
The Barbs (14-17 overall, 3-7 DVC) jumped out to leads in the first two sets behind senior Julia O'Brien's serving. She had two aces in the first run in Game 1 to stake the Barbs to a 6-1 lead, then another as DeKalb jumped ahead, 3-1, in the second. She finished with four.
But both teams made errors throughout the match. A 9-7 DeKalb lead in Game 1 was erased with five straight points for the Wildcats (18-16, 6-4), three on DeKalb errors.
DeKalb coach Nicole Lambert said that while the Barbs were sloppy early, they cleaned it up in the later game.
"I think we made them earn it in the second," Lambert said. "But I have to attribute that to the environment. When you have so much riding on this game - they're seniors, they want to win, a phenomenal student section I don't think anyone else has - they want to perform well. I think that got the best of us behind the end line."
The crowd was rocking on both sides of the gym. The DeKalb student section was behind the Barbs baseline with a strong contingent for senior night, and the Neuqua Valley lower levels were trying to match that energy despite being outnumbered.
Simon said she would have expected a stronger performance from her club given the energy level in the gym.
Simon said the Wildcats gave 21 points to the Barbs on errors in the match.
"We just need to play better ball," Simon said. "We need to take better care of the ball. It was just way too many errors. It was a great environment, and that's what I said. You would think in this environment they would rise to the occasion. For whatever reason we just lost focus. We have a few days before postseason, and we have to get better before postseason."
Nicole Fugelstad had five aces for the Wildcats, including two on the final 6-0 run in Game 2 that the Wildcats used to put the game away.
O'Brien and Ella Swanson had five kills each, and Kailey Porter had two blocks for the Barbs.
Both teams start the Class 4A playoffs Tuesday. DeKalb faces Rockford Guilford at 6:30 p.m. at Harlem.
"We are coming together," Lambert said. "Things are clicking offensively. There are always things to clean up, right? But for the most part we are growing. ... I'm really proud of the way the girls are peaking right now, and I think we're trending well."
The Wildcats will take on host Oswego East at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"We have a lot of work to do," Simon said. "Tonight was not typical for us. We made a lot of errors, gave away a lot of points. We gave away 11 points in the first set and 10 points in the second on our errors. You can't do that."