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Two teams who now have a combined seven victories between them put on an entertaining match on Aurora Central Catholic's floor.
Plano won the first game and held substantial leads in the final two games but couldn't hold on, as Aurora Central rallied for a 16-25, 25-23, 25-22 nonconference victory.
We struggle with timing and passing since we only have one club player," said ACC coach Randy Hewitt, who has a number of athletes who play multiple sports but don't specialize in volleyball. "We didn't communicate too well most of the time, but during crunch time and the game was on the line, they helped each other out."
As would be expected with two teams struggling to find confidence, the majority of the points were won when the opponents made errors of some kind. But, with the Chargers trailing 12-5 in the third game, junior Casey Regnier came up huge with the serve.
Regnier served three aces to help bring Aurora Central (3-18) back to a 12-all tie. Then it was back and forth the rest of the way until the Chargers broke a 22-all deadlock when Betty Jacobo hit into an open Plano space. A Reaper violation and error led to the Charger win.
Although she had trouble at times with serve-receive, junior defensive specialist Kristin Brouch made at least five acrobatic digs that kept Aurora Central alive and eventually enabled the Chargers to score. Middle hitter Sarah Chandler was a force for ACC, with three kills, three hits off blocks, and two blocks.
The Reapers (4-18) led most of the first game and scored seven of the last eight points. Lauren Konop, and Katelyn Debolt each had kills, and Debolt also scored on a block and a dink.
"The first game, our serve-receive was phenomenal and we got the ball up to the net," said Plano coach Lisa Esmond. "The second game, I said to keep it up, but we let down in that area. I'm struggling with trying to change the way once we get down, we don't know how to get up again. The mental confidence gets low, and then they start crossing their fingers whenever the ball is hit to them."
It appeared that Plano would make a quick night of it, as the Reapers led 11-5 in the second game after a series of Charger miscues. But saves by Brouch and Brittany Holzer helped bring ACC back. Plano led 23-22, but Megan Shambaugh hit off a block and served an ace to a 24-23 Charger lead. Chandler finished the game with an emphatic kill.
Sophomore Olivia Moody had a good game at the net for Plano with five kills. Volleyball: ACC def. Plano 16-25, 25-23, 25-22
October 9, 2007
Lisle 25-25, Plano 15-15 -- Stephanie Smith had four kills to lead the way for Plano while Jessica Goldsmith had six digs, Olivia Moody five blocks and Sarah Johnson six assists.