Seniors lead Aurora Central past Aurora Christian

Updated: September 26, 2011 9:52PM

Outside hitter Ashley Wilk and setter Jill Huseman were on the same page Monday and it showed as the two Aurora Central seniors led their volleyball team to a 25-12, 25-21 victory over neighborhood rival Aurora Christian.

Wilk hammered down eight kills, including the match-winner in the second set, and added two blocks while Huseman finished with 18 assists and a pair of aces in the Suburban Christian Conference crossover match.

“It’s a great win for us because it’s nice to get back on the winning track. We’ve been struggling a bit,” Wilk said of the 7-11 Chargers, who are facing tougher competition in the SCC Blue after moving up from the SCC Gold — which they won the past two seasons.

The visitors never trailed in the opener, vaulting to a 9-3 lead and cruising with Huseman spreading the wealth by setting up five different hitters for points.

“I’ve been playing around with the lineup a little bit, trying to find something that brings out our strengths, because we have them,” ACC coach Jeanne Czipri said. “We just haven’t been able to highlight them. We’ve had a lot of inconsistency.

“We’ve been working on siding out to stop our opponents from getting a long run and momentum going. I think the longest run they had tonight was four points, once in the second set.”

The Eagles had a stronger showing in the second set, which was tied six times before the Chargers pulled away after a 12-12 deadlock. They led by as many as eight points (24-16) before the hosts whittled it down to the final margin.

“We’re a little bit behind where I expected us to be in terms of intensity and team blending,” said Aurora Christian Coach Andrew Palmer, whose team fell to 8-9. “They know what to do, it’s just a matter of coming out and executing it.”

The Eagles hurt themselves with eight hitting errors in the opening set.

Aurora Christian setter Taylor Knauf (12 assists) had three kills in the second set and tied Faith Montalbano and Marisa Lange for the team lead.

“We were late on transition, late on blocking,” Palmer said. “We couldn’t get back quick enough to run the faster offense we like to run.”

ACC got five kills from Kendall Adams, four from Sam Chmielewski and three each from Kelsey Talkington and Katilyn Rosa. Ally Kane added a pair of aces.

Czipri was happy with Wilk’s production.

“She struggle a little bit at the start of the season but she’s been stepping up,” the coach said. “She’s a three-year varsity player and captain. I had expectations for her and she has even higher expectations for herself, which is great.

“I expect her to produce and get our team playing at the level we can play at, instead of doing her own thing. As captain, you sometimes have to inspire and motivate and she’s doing a better job of that.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.