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ALGONQUIN – After a lead slipped away leading to a loss in the first set, Jacobs senior middle blocker Yvonne Iskrev was determined to get her team to a decisive third.
With back-to-back aces to win the second set against Prairie Ridge, Iskrev provided her team with the early-season lift it desperately needed.
After winning the second set behind Iskrev’s strong game at the service line, the Golden Eagles had a much easier time in the third set as they picked up their first win of the season with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-17 victory over Prairie Ridge in their Fox Valley Conference match on Thursday at the Eagles’ Nest.
“I was building up anger from the first set,” said Iskrev, who let out a loud scream after the second of back-to-back aces in the second set. “It felt amazing for the whole team, really.”
Iskrev said the Eagles have been working hard to get their first victory. Jacobs (1-3, 1-3 FVC) opened the season with conference losses to Crystal Lake South, Crystal Lake Central and McHenry. Its loss to Central was especially difficult after the Eagles won the first set in that match.
“We’ve worked so hard for this,” said Iskrev, who had three aces and two kills. “It’s a challenging year with a lot of new players. We’re all getting used to each other and trying out some new things. We had a rough start to the year, but we knew we were going to come back strong.”
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The Wolves (2-3, 2-2) had leads of 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22 in the second set, but were unable to hold off the Eagles. Jacobs coach Mike Depa thought the difference was the Eagles’ strong serving.
Along with Iskrev, Aurora Rodella and Kate Wilson both had three aces. Sara Wasner and Gracie Breeze each added two. Jacobs had 13 aces as a team.
“A little weight off our shoulders,” Depa said of the Eagles getting their first win of the season. “We’ve come out with no energy the last few matches ... and that was our motivation today. We never gave up. It would have been easy for them to give up after losing the first set, but they fought, and they didn’t let any mental mistakes be the end.
“On defense, we were getting a lot of balls up on our side and forcing [Prairie Ridge] to make mistakes.”
Jacobs was led by Wasner with seven kills and Bella Van de Burgt with five. Breeze had 12 digs on defense, and Abby Deacon had 11. Teagan Van Stone had four blocks, and Ali Pierre chipped in two.
Wasner hopes Thursday’s win is the first of many for Jacobs, which is coming off a season in which it was 25-11 and won its first regional title since 2008. That team, however, was senior heavy, leaving this year’s team with many new faces.
“I think we showed other teams in the [FVC] that we can be a powerful team,” Wasner said. “We have a lot of young girls who are ready. We really wanted this win.”
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Grace Jansen had seven kills and 13 assists to lead Prairie Ridge. Mackenzie Schmidt had six kills, three aces and a block, and Maya Breseman tallied 16 digs on defense. The Wolves were missing one of their regular starters, senior outside hitter Katya Flaugher.
Prairie Ridge coach Stefanie Otto thought her team made too many errors in important stretches in the second and third sets.
“Just a lot of unforced errors in the second set,” Otto said. “I just wanted to see them stay aggressive, but I think we started making too many mistakes. I think mentally we were not staying tough.”