West Aurora takes down WW South

Updated: September 29, 2011 9:02PM

The start was almost too easy Thursday for the West Aurora volleyball team. Things got tougher, as they often do, but the Blackhawks came back for a three-set win over Wheaton Warrenville South.

“We lost our momentum and they started playing really well,” West junior standout Lauren Carlini said of her team’s 25-16, 23-25, 25-18 decision that keeps them in the thick of the DuPage Valley Conference title chase.

“We just continued to do what we did in the first game, and after that, we got our momentum back and we did really well.”

It lifts West to 17-7 overall and 7-1 in the league after entering the night’s action tied with both Naperville Central and North, all with one loss in league play.

The Blackhawks jumped to a 5-0 lead in the opener and were up 20-13 and cruised. They led by five points (10-5 and 16-11) twice in the second game and their margin was two – 23-21 – when the visitors scored four straight on a Kate Phalen kill (15 for the game), back-to-back block-kills by Zoe Weber and Krysta Watts (four blocks) and a clinching kill by Weber.

“I think we just had trouble with our pass and they came at us and passed up everything we sent at them in that second game,” said West coach Kari Nicholson. “We had trouble passing (the ball) up and a little trouble finishing it, but we refocused and said, ‘We’ve got one more game left’ and got it going again.”

West jumped to a 9-3 lead in the decisive set, only to have the Tigers rally to tie at 11-all. The Blackhawks led 15-14 then reeled off seven straight points highlighted by a block and kill from Peyton McKenzie (eight kills), to take control.

Carlini had 13 kills, 13 assists, two blocks and two aces to lead West, which got 20 assists from Leslie Martin, four kills from Abriya Zeitz, 13 digs from Abigail Schaschwary, 11 from Samantha Small and 10 from Dazmine Chaney.

“I think they finally started competing in Game 2,” Tigers’ coach Bill Schreier said of his 7-12, 3-5 team. “We sat back and it was a dysfunctional start in the first game, a start that shouldn’t happen.

“We did a little better staying in sync in Game 2, had better ball control, ran our offense and were able to slow Carlini down at the net, some.”

Then, casting a glance at the U.S. National team player who has verbally committed to the University of Wisconsin, he said, “Lauren (Carlini) is gonna give everyone a run for Player of the Year in state for sure. She’s the real deal. And No. 6 (McKenzie) was a nice other piece for them to build off. She had a real nice Game 1 and a nice start in Game 3.”

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