ELGIN — Control the net and you will win most volleyball matches.
The Wolfpack did just that Thursday night, picking up their seventh victory of the season.
Elgin Public-Pope John defeated the Bulldogs 25-16, 25-19 and 25-11.
EPPJ’s front row dominated the match, producing 39 kills in three games compared to just 19 for the Bulldogs.
“We played some good volleyball tonight,” Coach Tina Thiele-Blecher said about the match. “We came out kinda on fire … Our front row was really on tonight. Liz and Jenna, at one time had seven kills apiece. We talked about, we’ve got to get kills to win.”
Senior Jenna Parks got the Wolfpack moving in the right direction in game one. A kill and an ace tip helped give the Wolfpack an early 3 to 1 lead. An ace serve by Jordan Mescher and two kills from junior Liz Selting staked the Wolfpack to an eight to five lead.
A six-to-two run by EPPJ was capped by senior Terri Seier’s kill at the net.
The teams traded points the rest of the way with Amy Nelson and Paige Meis having success at the net and Mescher recording two more ace serves.
In game two, momentum switched back and forth early on as both teams made their mark. Jill Schindler teamed up with Seier for a stuff block at the net. A back row kill by Selting gave the Wolfpack a 13 to 10 lead. Creighton then tied the score at 14-all before EPPJ closed out the game with an 11 to five run. Nelson got things going with two kills, Selting followed with two more and Seier had a solo block on Creighton’s Maycey Forker for another point during the run.
