In The Battle of The Net, North Takes Down Central

The Plainfield Central Wildcats played host to their conference and cross-town rival Plainfield North Tigers on Tuesday night. For the Wildcats, it was their second conference game and the first for the Tigers.

The Wildcats enteredwith a record of 1-5, and the Tigers were 2-1. The match itself had all the hallmarks of an intense rivalry.  Both schools had a great show of support from loyal fans. Both teams showed intensity in the match from the very first serve. In the end, Plainfield North walked away a three-set winner.

Game 1 started well for the Wildcats, which capitalized on some key North mistakes. The Tigers sent several balls into the net  early on in the game and played a few balls short. The Tigers staged a comeback toward the end, tying the game six times before the Wildcats prevailed 25-22, led by a strong effort from front-line blockers Erin Hyland, Emily Obradovich, and Shannon Hagen.

In Game 2, the intensity of the rivalry came through. Central got out to an early 5-2 lead before North came roaring back on some key kills by Kaisley Fisher. Both teams fought for every point from then on, with three additional lead changes in the game. The Tigers won game 25-22 score on two huge service aces from Dakota Santore. This evened the score of the match at 1-1. It would all go down to Game 3.

The intensity from Game 2 carried on to Game 3 with a whopping six lead changes to start out.  After the sixth lead change, the Tigers would pounce to a 17-11 lead, but the Wildcats weren't done yet. The Wildcats crawled back to within 20-17, but the Tigers were too much to close out. The Tigers won Game 3 by a score of 25-20 and took the match 2-1.

After the game, Plainfield North coach Tracey Marshall said, "We started out slow, but our girls fought back hard. Our errors got us down early, but we can use that as a learning experience and only grow from here. Every game needs to be as intense as the last two here tonight."

Plainfield North improved to 3-1 and 1-0 in the Southwest Prairie Conference. Plainfield Central is 1-6 and 0-2.