Volleyball: Furious Sycamore comeback leads to rivalry win against DeKalb

DeKALB – A point away from losing to rival DeKalb, Ava Carpenter, Lillian Jones, Khiara Thomas and the Sycamore girls volleyball team scored eight straight points for a Game 2 victory.

The Spartans also got the first five points of the third game and never trailed, defeating the Barbs 16-25, 26-24, 25-16 on Wednesday.

[ Photos: DeKalb, Sycamore volleyball meet in early season matchup ]

“I think it shows we don’t give up easy and we really push until the end,” said Carpenter, who had at least six kills in the match. “We didn’t stop playing and we didn’t give up. I think most teams would look at that and just give up right away and think like, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose.’ But we definitely persevered through that and got the win.”

DeKalb was rolling and took control in the second set behind some strong defense from Ava Wente. All three of the sophomore’s blocks on the night came during a stretch when the Barbs (0-2) grew their lead from 6-5 to 14-7.

Through the first two games, Sycamore never led by more than two, and the only time the Spartans led came in the first 10 points of Game 2, the last one at 5-4.

So after one of Ella Russell’s three aces gave DeKalb a 24-18 lead, it seemed the Barbs were going to get the win.

But a service error ended a 3-0 run, then Thomas picked up three kills, the last of which tied the score at 24.

“She kind of had to get all the jitters out,” Sycamore coach Jennifer Charles said of Thomas, a sophomore. “But I think once she was able to settle in we definitely got to see what I’ve been expecting for her pretty much all summer.”

Madilyn Patton picked up a block to give the Spartans (1-0) a 25-24 lead and they won when a DeKalb kill attempt went long.

Thomas opened with a kill to start Game 3 as some DeKalb errors pushed the lead to 5-0. The Spartans never trailed in the final game.

“I’m really proud of their heart. I think everyone in the gym knows how much they wanted it,” DeKalb coach Keith Foster said. “My heart hurts for them for the result, but there was a lot of really good volleyball played tonight. We started strong and we just couldn’t finish. I’m really proud of them.”

It was the Barbs’ second match under first-year coach Foster. They lost in straight sets at Burlington Central on Monday.

“I think we let the moment get to us a little bit,” Foster said. “I think we were a little more focused on the result than we were on that play, that point. It’s just a mindset shift that has to happen in the program, focusing more on process and less on result.

“Bouncing back is not a concern of mine at all. This team has heart and determination and are well led by their seniors. As far as I’m concerned this is already forgotten.”

Maddi Hollar led the Barbs with 10 assists and added seven aces and four kills. Adi Galiatovic had a team-best eight kills and added three aces. Molly Fell had eight digs.

Official Sycamore stats were not available. Charles said early in the match, a lot of issues with the serve receive were taking the Spartans out of their offense, and once those decreased the attack at the net became much more effective.

Charles said she was proud of how her team played, especially considering the only seniors in the rotation are Carpenter and Kylie Walsh.

“Since our team is so young everyone is getting used to the varsity level of play,” Carpenter said. “I think we started off kind of shaky but everyone adjusted very well and ended up playing really well.”