Volleyball: Woodstock North stays unbeaten with KRC win against Johnsburg

WOODSTOCK – Woodstock North girls volleyball coach Eric Schulze likes to find every competitive advantage he can for his players.

That’s why he asked them to attend Kishwaukee River Conference rival Johnsburg’s match against Lakes on Tuesday, in order to scout them and get a better feel for the Skyhawks’ game.

The move paid off in a big way.

On Wednesday, the Thunder (3-0, 3-0 KRC) continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 25-18, 25-15 sweep over the Skyhawks.

“We saw some things we felt we could take advantage of when we watched them against Lakes,” Schulze said. “Specifically, where they were setting up defensively during serves.”

The result?

The Thunder tallied aces on a whopping 14 of their 50 combined points, led by junior setter Gabby Schefke, who finished the match with four consecutive aces. She had five total.

“Wow, I didn’t know we had that many,” said Schefke, who added 20 assists, four digs and two kills. “I knew we had a lot, but not that many, honestly.

“It was a pretty exciting way to finish a match. We were just able to find and take advantage of some holes in Johnsburg’s defense and executed our coach’s game plan.”

Teammate and libero Maddie Sofie also had five aces, three coming in an opening set that saw the Thunder dominate early, racing out to 14-3 lead.

That prompted Skyhawks coach Abby Bruns to call timeout to compose her squad, which is young and consists of just one senior starter, with only two seniors on the entire roster.

Her players responded, trimming North’s advantage to 21-16, but it was too little, too late.

“We lost this match on our poor service return,” Bruns said. “And we knew coming into this season it was going to be a building year for us.

“But I’m extremely pleased with how we responded tonight. I tell our girls, our goal is to get 5% better each game. We did that today. After our slow start, our spacing was excellent.”

As was their front line. Adelaide Bruns tallied four blocks, Casie Majercik had three blocks, and senior Juliana Cashmore had two blocks to go with five kills.

“We knew we had to limit Cashmore,” Schulze said. “When we scouted her, we felt like she was someone we had to contain.”

The star of the match was Schulze’s senior daughter, Devynn Schulze, who had a match-high seven kills at outside hitter.

Last season, she was the team’s all-state libero, but has since been moved to outside hitter out of necessity because of the team graduating a significant number of front-line players.

It’s been a huge adjustment, but one she’s welcomed with open arms.

“I just look at it as another challenge,” Devynn Schulze said. “But I’m glad I get the opportunity because not only does it make me a better and more complete player, it also gives me a chance to help my team.”

The Skyhawks fell to 0-3 overall and 0-3 in the KRC.

The Thunder, meanwhile, know despite their perfect record and lengthy track record of success, they have their work cut out for themselves.

“There’s no doubt [defending KRC champion] Richmond-Burton is the team to beat in our conference,” Eric Schulze said. “They’re big, they’re tough and they’re real talented.

“But we’re going to keep trying to learn, minimize mistakes and play smart volleyball and see where that leads us.”