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hplandmark.com sports<br />
the highland park landmark | August 31, 2017 | 27<br />
Girls Volleyball<br />
Giants hang tough with Niles West in opener<br />
Force third set<br />
with 2016 state<br />
contender<br />
Erin Redmond<br />
Sports Editor<br />
When Highland Park<br />
opened its season against<br />
Niles West Tuesday, Aug.<br />
22, the Giants knew what<br />
they were up against.<br />
The Wolves were coming<br />
off a historic season<br />
which saw its first ever trip<br />
to state in program history<br />
and ended with a fourthplace<br />
finish in the tournament.<br />
But even facing a<br />
team with such an intimidating<br />
reputation, Highland<br />
Park battled, taking<br />
Niles West to three sets,<br />
before falling 26-24, 8-25,<br />
24-26 at home.<br />
“I think we played as a<br />
team and we played well<br />
as a team,” junior middle<br />
blocker Ireland Hieb said.<br />
“[Niles West] just went to<br />
state last year, but we held<br />
our own. We fought well<br />
against them. I think if we<br />
had more games and more<br />
experience playing with<br />
each other, we definitely<br />
would’ve taken that one.”<br />
The Giants jumped out<br />
to a 6-1 lead in set 3, a rally<br />
capped by one of three<br />
aces senior outside hitter<br />
Miranda Mottlowitz had in<br />
the game. A block, kill and<br />
a pair of couple Highland<br />
Park errors let Niles West<br />
back in it and narrowed<br />
the Giants’ lead to three at<br />
16-13.<br />
Junior outside hitter Olivia<br />
Carter helped Highland<br />
Park stay ahead with<br />
a couple of big kills, but<br />
the Wolves clawed their<br />
way back, capitalizing on<br />
Giants’ errors. Niles West<br />
strung together a pair of<br />
kills, an ace and back-toback<br />
blocks to take the<br />
lead to put the game away<br />
for good.<br />
“We [need to] keep that<br />
momentum on our side regardless<br />
of errors and not<br />
let that have a domino effect,”<br />
Giants coach Beth<br />
Peterson said. “If one girl<br />
makes an error then the<br />
next pass is shanked and<br />
the next pass shanked.<br />
We want to stop that so<br />
that if one person makes a<br />
bad pass, then next person<br />
picks them up and does the<br />
job and we can keep moving<br />
forward.<br />
“[We need to improve]<br />
just being smart as hitters:<br />
when we can hit, where we<br />
can place it. Where are the<br />
open spots on the court?<br />
So making better choices<br />
as hitters [is what we’ll<br />
work on].”<br />
The Giants hung tough<br />
through a back-and-forth<br />
first set which featured<br />
eight ties. Mottlowitz<br />
helped keep it close, patrolling<br />
the net to tip the<br />
ball over not once, but<br />
twice to give Highland<br />
Park its largest lead of the<br />
set at 11-8.<br />
Highland Park errors<br />
helped Niles West stay in<br />
the game, but late back-toback<br />
aces from Mottlowitz<br />
swung the momentum in<br />
her team’s favor to give<br />
it a 23-20 lead. The home<br />
team then made the most<br />
of the Wolves’ mistakes,<br />
who overserved the ball<br />
and committed an error,<br />
to give the Giants the two<br />
points they needed to close<br />
out the set.<br />
“I think we definitely<br />
worked really hard as a<br />
team together. It was nice<br />
because it’s our first game.<br />
We had a ton of attacks, we<br />
were high on energy and<br />
I think we played really<br />
The Giants (from left) Allyson Gordon (3), Miranda Mottlowitz (16) and Olivia Carter (8) prepare to receive the ball<br />
during the season opener against Niles West Tuesday, Aug.22, in Highland Park. photos by Erin Redmond/22nd<br />
Century Media<br />
well as a team,” Mottlowitz<br />
said. “... Energy is so important<br />
on and off the court;<br />
the bench players definitely<br />
helped with that.”<br />
Set 2 was a much different<br />
story as Highland<br />
Park just couldn’t find its<br />
rhythm. The Giants’ slew<br />
of errors led to a nine<br />
straight points for Niles<br />
West, which jumped out to<br />
a 16-4 lead.<br />
Highland Park tried to<br />
stage a rally, scoring three<br />
straight points to cut the<br />
Wolves’ lead to 18-8 off<br />
back-to-back kills from<br />
Allyson Gordon and Mottlowitz<br />
paired with a big<br />
block by Hieb. But unfortunately<br />
for the home<br />
team, the errors continued<br />
and that would be all the<br />
offense it could muster up.<br />
But despite the errors,<br />
Peterson said she was impressed<br />
with her team’s tenacity<br />
and ability to hang<br />
tough with a top-tier the<br />
Highland Park celebrates after its 26-24 Set 1 victory over the Wolves.<br />
likes of Niles West.<br />
“They were at state last<br />
year, so for us to come<br />
back and battle the way we<br />
did, I’m really proud of the<br />
girls. We had some serving<br />
errors in the first game<br />
and if we can reduce that,<br />
I think that’s a different<br />
game, it’s a different tempo,”<br />
the Giants coach said.<br />
“ ... Just staying consistent<br />
and steady and keeping<br />
up the intensity [is important].<br />
I think if we can<br />
do that throughout, this<br />
might’ve been a different<br />
result. They threw some<br />
tough serves at us and we<br />
didn’t pass the second set<br />
and then you have to dig<br />
out of that hole and that’s<br />
never fun.”<br />
Carter led Highland<br />
Park with five kills, while<br />
Mottlowitz had four and<br />
three aces.
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