YORKVILLE -- For many folks, Saturday was a lost day, washed out by the rain. But not at the Yorkville Girls Volleyball Invitational.
The host Foxes gained some much-needed experience, and Aurora Christian placed higher than it has in recent years. While neither school won its final match, the day was not a total loss.
After finishing 2-1 in pool play, Aurora Christian advanced to the third-place match. The Eagles were defeated 25-11, 25-21 by Lincoln-Way North, but coach Nicole Anderson was pleased with her team's performance.
"It's the best we've finished here in my four years," she said. "Overall, I'm very proud of the girls. They came in after kind of a shaky game on Thursday and played aggressively and tough and as a team."
Plainfield North, which captured the tournament championship, downed the Eagles 25-9, 25-15 in the first game of pool play, but Aurora Christian rebounded. Nipping Sandwich 26-24, 25-23, the Eagles improved to 1-1 before beating Yorkville 25-10, 25-14 for the right to play for third.
Lincoln-Way North, a new school in its first year of varsity play, jumped out to a 10-4 advantage in the first game against the Eagles and continued to stretch the margin.
The Phoenix again grabbed an early lead in the second game, but the Eagles responded.
Trailing 6-1, the Eagles (8-4) scored seven of the game's next eight points behind the serves of sophomore Shannon Norris. The lead seesawed until the Phoenix notched five straight points for a 17-12 cushion. The Eagles pulled within three points on three occasions, but Lincoln-Way North ended the match on well-placed shot by Meagan Radloff.
"Right now our team is a little hit or miss," Anderson said. "We're either all on or all off. We fought hard in the second game.
"I was really proud of Shannon. She struggled a little bit today, but she came out and served us back into the game."
Rachel Mertens led the Eagles with 30 assists while Ashley Ilseman garnered 17 kills and four blocks. Mallory Gilkey added 10 kills and six blocks and Amanda Beebe tallied 31 digs.
Yorkville went 1-2 in pool play and faced off with Lisle in the fifth-place match. The Lions outlasted the Foxes 25-20, 24-26, 15-11.
The Foxes downed Sandwich 25-17, 19-25, 15-8 in the opening match of the day for their first win on the season before falling 25-9, 27-25 to the eventual champions.
Sandwich dropped all three of its pool play matches, but the Indians did top Fenton 25-22, 25-16 in the seventh-place contest.
The Foxes were down 21-11 in the first game against Lisle, but they rallied and trimmed the deficit to 24-20. The rally wasn't enough, however, and the Lions claimed Game 1. Yorkville trailed nearly all of Game 2, but managed to erase a 23-20 Lisle edge. Devin Turner's spike knotted the contest at 23, and after the teams traded shots into the net, Yorkville gained a 25-24 lead on a serve by Lauren Sauer. Katrina Donarski (10 kills) then ended the match with a block.
Lisle leaped to 5-1 advantage in the final game and the Foxes never recovered. An ace by Sauer brought the Foxes within 13-11, but a kill by Chelsea Peterson and a service point by Brianna Larson handed the Lions the fifth-place trophy.
Alex Nelson led the Foxes with 13 kills, Ashley Galbraith had 15 assists, four aces and 11 digs and Sonja Gilbertson added 11 digs and four kills. Lindsay Crawford tallied six blocks and Turner added five while Megan Grandchamp garnered 11 digs.
"We really showed some positive things today," Yorkville coach Mike Dunn said. "We're going to use this as a learning experience and improve. We have three girls that have played varsity and nine or 10 that have never played. So we're very young and just getting into the flow of things."
No lost day here. Yorkville Invitational
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Photos: Yorkville volleyball tournament