Naperville Central Volleyball Wins Cross-Town Battle With Naperville North

In the past week, both Naperville North and Naperville Central's girls volleyball teams had earned three-set wins over Wheaton Warrenville South.

The Redhawks turned the trick at home a week ago, while the Huskies pulled it off Tuesday.

Thursday, the two Naperville squads squared off for the first time this season, and it was Central that came out with a three-set win. The Redhawks earned a 25-16, 21-25, 25-10 win to even their overall record at 5-5 and tie the Huskies in DuPage Valley Conference play at 3-1. North fell to 6-4 overall.

"I think this is a good win for us because we started the season a little slow," Central coach Brie Isaacson said. "This shows, as a team, we're moving in the right direction."

The teams were tied 9-9 early in Game 1 before the Redhawks took over. Three kills apiece for Katie Battle and Alysia Baznik, two blocks from Sammy Condon and kills from Emmy Shanks and Chloe Lupina helped them cruise to a 25-16 win, however.

In the second, the Huskies responded, mostly behind sophomore Corinne Gajcak. Up 10-8, she had five kills as part of an 8-3 North scoring run that helped the Huskies take command. She had two kills and a block for the final three points of Game 2, setting up a decisive Game 3.

"I think we let down a smidge," Isaacson said of the second game. "I didn't think we played terribly. We just gave up a couple of runs of points. We fought back. I thought we had good momentum going into the third game."

Isaacson was right. The Redhawks came out smoking in Game 3, building a 10-1 lead right off the bat. By the time it reached 12-2, North coach Jennifer Urban had already exhausted both of her timeouts for the game.

"After the second game, we were really pumped up, but their energy just killed us," Gajcak said. "We weren't really smart on defense. It was our serve-receive that killed us."

Two Shanks aces and two Lupina kills, combined with two Huskies errors, helped Central close out the match on a 7-1 run.

"Playing our rival team, it always puts a little fire in us," said Baznik, who had 10 kills and 12 assists in the win. "Hopefully, this will transfer into the (Wheaton Classic; Central plays Friday) and we will play as a team like we did today."

Pool play for both Central and North begins Friday at Wheaton Warrenville South. Both teams will play two matches, at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Naperville Central is in a pool with Hinsdale Central and St. Charles North, while Naperville North will face Benet and Plainfield North. The finals will be Saturday.