Immaculate Conception comes back for win

Updated: September 22, 2011 9:54PM

Even after coaching for 37 seasons, you don’t always have all the answers.

“We made some changes in the first game,” Immaculate Conception coach Jean Field, whose Knights were beaten rather convincingly in Game 1 of their Suburban Christian Conference crossover match Thursday at Aurora Central Catholic.

“We tried to move some things around,” she said. “The girls weren’t buying into it. They didn’t play as well as they are capable of playing.”

But you don’t win 808 games by being stubborn.

“We kind of went back to what we were doing before in the second and third games,” Field said. “We made a few minor changes, but it seemed to work better.”

Immaculate Conception used a 12-3 run to break an 8-8 tie in Game 2 and held on after building a 13-4 lead in Game 3 to defeat Aurora Central Catholic 17-25, 25-15, 25-19. Sophomore Kimberly Martino had four kills, a block and 10 assists to lead the Knights (12-6).

“We couldn’t get our hits in during the first game,” Martino said. “We really didn’t come out focused. But at the end of the first game we regrouped. We passed really well the last two games. We just came together.”

Katelyn Conenna added six kills and junior setter Elizabeth Martino contributed eight assists, two kills and an ace for Immaculate Conception. which got a big lift in Game 3 from senior middle Juliette Ambrogi’s three blocks and a kill.

“We moved Jennifer Clementi out of the middle and to the right side and with Juliette in the middle that puts a big block up there,” Field said. “The rest of the kids picked it up. We served pretty good. We really work on being aggressive on the serving.

“We tried to keep them off balance, keep them out of their system, we started picking things up defensively and I thought Emily Hartnett came in and did a nice job serving.” the coach added. “I think we did some nice things.”

Ashley Wilk had 10 kills and Kendall Adams added two kills and four blocks for Aurora Central Catholic (8-12), which is still trying to find its way after losing all but two starters to graduation from a year ago.

“I’m looking for a little bit more leadership and consistency,” Aurora Central Catholic coach Jeanne Czipri said. “We play well when we want to play well, and then we just don’t get things done when were not totally engaged.

“I don’t have the big horses I had the last two years, but I have more depth,” she added. “I’m just trying to find what works, which pieces are actually going to get the job done for me, and it changes every day.”

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