Girls volleyball: Lauren Jansen leads Plainfield North past scrappy Plainfield East on Senior Night

PLAINFIELD – Thursday night was Senior Night for Plainfield North’s girls volleyball team, but district and Southwest Prairie Conference rival Plainfield East did its best to ruin the party.

In the end, however, it was a trio of Tigers seniors that provided the biggest boost, as Plainfield North (26-9, 10-1) rallied from deficits in both sets to claim a 25-19, 25-20 win to cap the regular season.

Before the match, Plainfield North honored seniors Madeline Haubert, Victoria Bouska, Lauren Jansen, Jackie Gladstein and Christina Petkus and their parents, making for an emotional scene.

Plainfield East (4-25, 2-9), however, tried to put a damper on the festivities. The Bengals jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead and increased the edge to 11-6. The one constant for North was Jansen, who had three of her match-high 11 kills to keep the Tigers close. East went ahead 16-13 before Jansen got the serve back with a kill.

Jansen then stepped to the service line and delivered four straight points, including one on her own back-row kill, to give the Tigers an 18-16 lead and they never trailed again in the first set.

But Plainfield East refused to let up, jumping out to a 6-1 lead at the start of the second set. North chipped away at the lead, but East went ahead 11-9 on a kill by Ella Gierat, one of her team-leading six.

“Our girls came out and played well,” East coach Kurt Dolson said. “They took the lead, and we had a bit of hope for a while. I was very happy with the effort and energy we showed.

“This was one of our better matches of the season. Our libero [Melanie White] did a great job, and Ella Gierat had a big match. Ella really brings a lot of energy to the floor. Now we hope we can keep this momentum going and put together a strong match against East Aurora in the regional and hopefully get a shot at Benet Academy.”

The Tigers got the serve back on a kill by Jansen, then Ella Strausberger served back-to-back aces to put North ahead 14-13. A kill by Jansen and another Strausberger ace made it 16-13. With North leading 21-19, they got kills from Ella Maletich (6 kills) and Bouska (5 kills) to take a 23-19 lead.

“We stay pretty calm when we get behind,” Jansen said. “We don’t get upset after we make a mistake. We just put it behind us and move on to the next point.

“There was a lot of emotion tonight. Last game on this court, so it was kind of bittersweet. One of our goals this season is to win the regional. After that, we will take it one match at a time.”

North coach Matt Slechta was pleased with how his team performed.

“It’s Senior Night, so there are a lot of different emotions,” he said. “It’s the last home game for the seniors. We were able to pick things back up after getting behind early. The girls didn’t panic and they got into their comfort zone.

“Lauren Jansen has been through a lot of situations like this. Her freshman year, we struggled through some things and won a regional, and her club team won a national title, so she has seen a lot of things. Lauren, Jackie Gladstein and Victoria Bouska are our leaders and they did a good job tonight.”