Volleyball notes: Crystal Lake Central’s McKenna Timmerman commits to Gardner-Webb

Crystal Lake Central’s McKenna Timmerman tagged along on college recruiting trips with her big brother, Alex, and big sister, Madeline, and got a pretty good idea about what she was looking for in a potential fit.

McKenna Timmerman found what she was looking for after an official visit to Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, last weekend, and announced her commitment to the NCAA Division I Runnin’ Bulldogs on Sunday via Twitter.

“It’s been a very long journey with lots of ups and downs, but it feels like all of my hard work has paid off, and that’s thanks to my past coaches and teammates because I would not be where I am without them,” Timmerman said.

“They’ve pushed me so hard and always encouraged me. It feels great that I have the opportunity to go play in college and show what I can do.”

Timmerman said the recruiting process was more difficult because of COVID-19 restrictions, which did not allow her to set up as many visits as she would have liked. But she quickly fell in love with Gardner-Webb.

“It’s a smaller school and it has that ‘homey’ vibe where everybody is so sweet and so welcoming,” she said. “You get to know everyone and everyone knows you, and everyone supports each other, and I just really love that environment.”

Timmerman will join her brother, a junior basketball player at Bucknell, and sister, a freshman volleyball player at Eastern Michigan, in playing at the D-I level. Their mom, Lauren, played volleyball at Valparaiso.

“The process of recruiting has been hard because of COVID, and it’s definitely been harder for our class,” Timmerman said. “But over the last couple of years with my sister and brother I’ve been able to see a lot of campuses.

“All I can remember in my life is sports between all three of us. When I’m not playing volleyball, I’m on the sidelines watching my brother or sister. It definitely was a competitive house, but I love it, and we all got to compete with each other. It was awesome.”

Gardner-Webb was 4-12 in the Big South last year and named Eric Plunkett, a former associate coach at Illinois State, as the new head coach before the start of the season. Plunkett helped lead ISU to four Missouri Valley Conference titles and four appearances in the D-I Women’s Volleyball Championships.

“I’m looking forward to getting down there and the warm weather,” Timmerman said. “I’m just excited to continue to grow as a player. I don’t think I’m at my full potential, and I can just keep working and getting better.”

Central’s big week: Crystal Lake Central entered its Sep. 21 match against crosstown rival Prairie Ridge with three straight losses and a 4-9 record, but Tigers coach Amy Johnson felt like her team was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Central had just made a lineup change – moving middle blocker Mary Grace Gallagher to right-side hitter – and were competitive in three-set losses to Crystal Lake South and Burlington Central. After losing the first set to Prairie Ridge, the Tigers bounced back in the final two sets for a 24-26, 25-20, 28-26 victory.

Central also won its next two matches, beating Huntley and Jacobs in two sets.

“The girls were frustrated, and I remember going into the PR match feeling like that it was a really big match for the team,” Johnson said. “It was a really big win just because of the moral boost it gave us.”

“It just took awhile for us to find a lineup that was firing on all cylinders, I guess. Mary Grace has been a middle her whole life, and she’s just a workhorse. She’s a culture kid, she does whatever the team needs, and she’s a great volleyball player. She just took it in stride. I think it’s just giving us more offense power.”

[ High school volleyball: Northwest Herald Power Rankings for Sept. 29 ]

Previously, Johnson felt the Tigers were leaning too much on Timmerman.

“For a while, [Timmerman] was getting 46 attempts a match,” Johnson said. “Obviously, she’s extremely talented and can carry a team, but we need everyone consistent and contributing. To be able to disperse the offense like that, it takes a lot of pressure off McKenna and it also makes us more difficult to defend.”

Lauren Klutke and Paige Keller have been running Central’s 6-2 offense at setter, a position neither had much experience with before.

“Lauren and Paige have never run the show before,” Johnson said. “The setting position like your quarterback. When you have inexperience at setter, things can be tough, but I think they’re doing a really good job of holding their own right now.”

Johnson anticipated a difficult transition after Central lost the majority of its starters to graduation. Now, things look like they’re heading in the right direction.

“I knew it was going to be a challenging first year,” Johnson said. “When you look at Crystal Lake Central and the number of 30-win seasons in a row they’ve had, it’s tough to fill those shoes. I knew it was going to be a process. In our program, we value preparation, hard work and technique.

“I also know that three wins in a row is nice, but I’m not thinking we have it figured out by any means. We’ve still got to work, and I reminded the kids of that.”

Rolling Thunder: Woodstock North continued its torrid start to the season Wednesday with a 25-19, 19-25, 25-12 Kishwaukee River Conference victory over Marengo, giving North its 15th consecutive win and 19th straight in conference.

The Thunder lead the KRC with a 6-0 record after winning its first conference championship last season. North’s 16-2 start to the season puts it in great position to challenge its program-record 22 victories set in 2018.

Before Wednesday’s match against Marengo, Kylie Schulze led the Thunder in assists (329), digs (137) and aces (30), Alyssa Wickersheim had a team-best 130 kills and Avery Crabill had 70 kills and 24 aces. Katie Wickersheim had 120 digs.

Cary-Grove trips up Crystal Lake South: The Trojans became the first FVC team to knock off the Gators on Tuesday with a 10-25, 25-19, 25-22 comeback victory. The win boosted C-G’s record to 9-7 and 6-5 in the conference, which puts the Trojans in fourth. South still leads the FVC at 10-1, followed by Huntley (8-3) and Jacobs (7-4).

South (14-2) won its first 14 matches this season before losing to St. Viator in the championship match of the Prospect Invite on Saturday.