C-G roars back

Cary-Grove's Allison Whimpey goes up for a kill during the second game of Thursday's match at Crystal Lake Central. Cary-Grove won, 21-25, 25-17, 25-13. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Thursday’s first game was unpolished and raw, but the third was perfect.

As it turned out, Cary-Grove’s girls volleyball team merely was warm­ing up.

In a match that they couldn’t have started much more poorly, the Trojans rallied against Crystal Lake Central to look every bit the team that won an IHSA Class 4A state title last year, beating the Tigers, 21-25, 25-17, 25-13, in a Fox Valley Conference crossover with an error-free third game that the Trojans dominated.

C-G slipped and skidded over itself in the first game while the Tigers had moments when they looked unbeatable.

But by the time C-G had scored its final point, there was little doubt the Trojans will, once again, be the area’s team to beat this season.

“We knew they’d come out like that, with a packed gym and all their fans,” C-G senior outside hitter Kelly Lamberti said.“We knew they wanted to play us pretty bad, and they came out really strong.

“ ... It was frustrating at first, but after we calmed down a little and started going back to the basics things started to work.”

While C-G had trouble passing and missed five serves in the first game, Central (2-1) used three kills from junior middle hitter Amelia Anderson (12 kills) and three service points from senior libero Corrie Gustin to take a 15-10 lead just after a C-G timeout.

Four more C-G errors, two Anderson kills and kills from Lauren
Leverenz and Courtney Kiolbassa gave the Tigers the win in Game 1.

Central led, 8-3, in the second game before C-G (3-0) began chipping away and took its first lead, 11-10, since the start of Game 1.

For Central, it became a matter of stopping junior middle blocker Ashley Rosch and Lamberti. Once C-G started passing and receiving effectively, the two big hitters took charge.

Rosch terminated five times to end Game 2, and Lamberti started Game 3 with back-to-back kills that complemented three on the right side from senior Allison Whimpey (six kills). Central was forced to take a timeout when C-G opened a 7-0 advantage.

“Our passing was bad, and I don’t think Cary-Grove made one mistake in that third game,” Central coach Doug Blundy said. “They’re an outstanding team. I thought we had an opportunity to beat them when we started that second game, but we started to face some adversity and we didn’t handle it very well.”

C-G led, 22-8, before Central went on a seven-point run thanks in part to three Anderson kills, but the Tigers committed two mistakes and Lamberti served an ace to end the match.

The weight of expectation for this Trojans team is heavy, and C-G coach Patty Langanis knows the only way for her team to focus on the moment is to learn as the season progresses.

The Trojans, thus far, have handled the pressure well. Senior setter Colleen Smith (27 assists) finally has an opportunity to run the offense and has a keen sense of whom to set and when; Rosch has become even more threatening at the net than she was last season; libero Sam Mainzer has become a defensive cog; and Lamberti seems to be hitting even harder than she was last year, if that’s possible.

“The wins and losses are not what we’re going to focus on right now,” Langanis said. “We are going to learn from every match. We know this team is expected to do a lot this year, but we’re trying to be realistic. Right now we’ve got some things we need to work on, and we’ll get a chance to fix those.”