Girls Volleyball: Gajcak’s serving helps North top Metea
BY NEIL SHALIN For Sun-Times Media August 28, 2012 9:12PM
Naperville North's Ninu Yu bumps the ball Tuesday against Metea Valley. | Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: September 30, 2012 6:09AM
Put down Naperville North’s Corinne Gajcak for at least a 20 percent tip for her work as a server in the Huskies’ 25-18, 25-15 volleyball road win over Metea Valley on Tuesday.
With the Mustangs leading 18-17 in the first set, Gajcak stepped to the service line and ended the set in the Huskies’ favor with an 8-point run that included five of her match-high six aces.
“The fact that we were down motivated us going into that run,” said Gajcak. “That finish gave us momentum for the whole match. That first ball is so important because it gives us control of the point.”
“Corinne’s a good server,” said Naperville North coach Jen Urban. “As a team, we’ve had a lot of aces in our matches so far. Serving will be one of our strengths.”
The Mustangs stayed with Naperville North (6-1) early in the second set, but then, with Gajcak serving again, the Huskies went on a four-point run to open up a 13-7 lead and then they won going away.
“Corinne did everything for us tonight,” said Urban. “We depend on her everywhere on the court and she showed great leadership as a captain.”
In addition to her aces, Gajcak also came up with a team-leading six kills and six digs, sharing honors with Colleen Larson, who also had six.
The varied Huskies attack saw Angela Jurek and Bailey O’Drobinak each with five kills and setter Emily Kwak had 19 assists and produced 3 aces.
“Emily did a great job setting all over the court,” said Gajcak. “She brought our middles into the game.”
Lexie Lobdell had four kills for Metea Valley, while Kaylyn Torain had two kills and three blocks.
“They’re strong servers,” said Metea Valley coach Janine Wange about Naperville North. “And we’re usually pretty good passers. But our serve-receive was not good tonight. We were unable to bounce back mentally from our passing errors. We were blocking well and putting the ball away but we didn’t have many opportunities because we couldn’t play defense and couldn’t pass.”
