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newlenoxpatriot.com sports<br />
the New Lenox Patriot | September 14, 2017 | 39<br />
Girls Volleyball<br />
Knights give Griffins all they can handle in close loss<br />
Randy Whalen<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
The Lincoln-Way East<br />
girls volleyball team is expecting<br />
big things. The<br />
Lincoln-Way Central girls<br />
volleyball team has already<br />
experienced a big turnaround.<br />
So when the two District<br />
210 schools met up with<br />
each other last week both<br />
of those positives were on<br />
display. In the end East prevailed<br />
16-25, 25-18, 25-20 in<br />
a SouthWest Suburban Conference<br />
crossover on Thursday,<br />
Sept. 7 in New Lenox.<br />
But the victorious Griffins<br />
(6-3) definitely knew they<br />
had their hands full against<br />
an upstart Central (8-2) club,<br />
which already has more than<br />
half the wins (15) it did all of<br />
last season.<br />
“Central played great defense<br />
and hit smart,” East<br />
coach Kris Fiore said. “I told<br />
the girls that it was a playoff<br />
atmosphere. We had to earn<br />
it and we did.”<br />
That leadership showed<br />
down the stretch of the third<br />
set. The Knights had closed<br />
to within 21-20 when East,<br />
which had just made three<br />
straight hitting errors, called<br />
a time out. Central then<br />
served long to put the Griffins<br />
back on serve. They<br />
never relinquished that as<br />
Hanna Lesiak (5 kills, 2<br />
aces) served an ace, fellow<br />
outside hitter Molly Hackett<br />
had a block and Lesiak laced<br />
a final ace to end it.<br />
“Central is a really good<br />
team and we knew we had<br />
to fight,” Lesiak said. “But,<br />
in the end, we had heart and<br />
drive. As a team we all have<br />
that drive to finish what we<br />
started.”<br />
It also helped that the Griffins<br />
have Haley Hart. The senior<br />
middle hitter put down<br />
eight kills, including backto-back<br />
key ones in a 6-0 run<br />
that put East ahead for good<br />
at 18-15 in set three. Hackett<br />
(match high 11 kills, 11 digs,<br />
4 aces) had a pair of aces in<br />
the burst, which came on the<br />
heels of a 6-0 run from the<br />
Knights, during which East<br />
made five errors.<br />
Madi Corey distributed 24<br />
assists from her setter position.<br />
Fellow senior Emily<br />
Ripp had 11 digs at libero.<br />
As sophomores two years<br />
ago, Corey, Lesiak, and<br />
Ripp were all at Lincoln-<br />
Way North. In their final<br />
season, the Phoenix won<br />
a sectional championship.<br />
The trio transferred to East<br />
as juniors, but their coach<br />
at North two years ago was<br />
current Central coach Mary<br />
Brown.<br />
“I’m happy for them and<br />
how far they’ve come,”<br />
Brown said of her former<br />
players.<br />
She said she’s also happy<br />
with how her team has performed<br />
this season.<br />
“I have a good bunch<br />
of girls that like to win,”<br />
Brown said. “We don’t like<br />
to lose, but the thing is we<br />
don’t have any big hitters.<br />
That’s been our weakness.”<br />
But that didn’t stop Central<br />
from taking control early<br />
in the opener. East had leads<br />
of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 before<br />
the Knights used a 7-1 burst<br />
to go up 10-5 and take the<br />
lead for good. Senior libero<br />
Lucy Chesla (3 aces, 9 digs)<br />
had back-to-back aces and<br />
senior setter/right side hitter<br />
Kylie Kulinski (6 kills, 4 assists)<br />
had an ace and a kill in<br />
the stretch.<br />
Another ace by Kulinski<br />
made it 20-13 and consecutive<br />
aces from senior outside<br />
hitter Hannah Stacy helped<br />
pushed the lead to 23-14 as<br />
the Knights coasted to the<br />
opening set victory.<br />
Set two started out close<br />
with four ties and three lead<br />
changes early on. It was still<br />
close midway through as<br />
East clung to a 14-13 lead<br />
before Hackett highlighted a<br />
7-1 spurt with a trio of kills.<br />
The Knights closed within<br />
22-18 on an ace by Michelle<br />
Burk, but that’s as close as<br />
the Knights could get.<br />
Trailing 10-4 in Set 3,<br />
Central came back to take<br />
the 15-12 lead before East<br />
regrouped to pull it out.<br />
Senior setter/right side hitter<br />
Cassidy Wyman (3 kills,<br />
10 assists) and sophomore<br />
middle hitter Layne Stevens<br />
(3 blocks) also contributed<br />
for the Knights, whose<br />
only other loss this season<br />
was 25-19, 25-13 in pool<br />
play to tournament champion<br />
Marist in the Plainfield<br />
North Invite.<br />
“I’m really proud of my<br />
girls,” Brown said. “They<br />
are really coachable, we<br />
get the most out of them,<br />
and they have a great work<br />
ethic,” Brown said. “East<br />
served us really tough. We<br />
hope to get another chance<br />
to face them at the end of the<br />
season.”<br />
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