High school volleyball: Jacobs loses two close matches in own invite

ALGONQUIN – Jacobs got tantalizingly close to reaching the championship match at its own tournament on Saturday before falling to Lake Forest in three sets.

The Golden Eagles again won the first set in the third-place match against Wheaton North and were four points from taking it before the Falcons rallied to win that as well, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23.

While neither of the last two matches had the endings Jacobs wanted, the Eagles, who had beaten North earlier Saturday in Pool 1, found plenty of positives.

“We are fighters,” Jacobs setter Rachel Kaczorowski said. “Yeah, we’re frustrated we lost, but we’re fighters and we battled in every single game, no matter what the situation was.

“We did a great job coming together. We’re so great off the court and it just clicks and we know how to get out of ruts.”

Jacobs, which won Pool 1 at 3-0, had defeated Wheaton North earlier in three sets, 27-29, 25-12, 15-8. The semifinal loss to Lake Forest, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, stung for the Eagles (6-3).

“We really wanted it,” Jacobs coach Mike Depa said. “It was a bit of a letdown, home tournament, they really wanted it. A lot of those matches went three and they played really tough.

“We know when we have those leads, we need to finish. We’re coming together as a team and playing well, it’s just finishing those games when we have those leads and pushing through. It’s a tough loss, but we can learn from that and it’s good to happen in an early tournament like this.”

Kaczorowski led the Golden Eagles with 96 assists and also had 37 digs and 15 kills. Jaclyn Poirier topped Jacobs with 33 kills, Ireland Van Stone added 27 and Sara Sasner had 20.

Poirier and Kate Wilson led Jacobs with eight serving aces in the tournament and Meredith Giustino had 57 digs.

Wheaton North (6-6) were led by Audrey Brcka with 42 kills and 34 digs in the tournament. Brcka has 11 kills in the third-place match. Mia Benson finished with 32 kills, nine in the last match.

Paige Syswerda has 91 assists, 26 in the third-place match and Ella Brand finished with 84 digs, 20 in the third-place match.

“We were a little bit inconsistent today, but they really turned it on at the end to battle back, after losing that first set to a really good Jacobs team,” Falcons coach Justin Hineman said. “It was a heck of a job. We’ve had a really tough start in terms of schedule and really good teams, but it’s starting to pay dividends in these close matches. We can rely on that experience.”

Cary-Grove: The Trojans defeated Grant to take seventh place in the 12-team tournament and go 3-2 for the day.

Tricia Kennedy led C-G with 39 kills and seven aces. Alexis Koenig had 66 digs, Isabelle Strader had 101 assists and seven aces and Mya Bajromivic had 13 blocks.

Crystal Lake Central: The Tigers went 2-3 for the tournament, losing to Waukesha Catholic Memorial, 25-18, 25-19, for ninth place.

McKenna Timmerman had 35 kills, 40 digs and six aces for Central. Lauren Klutke added 41 assists, 38 digs, 10 kills and six aces and Mary Grace Gallagher had 31 digs, 15 kills and four aces.

Marian Central: The Hurricanes finished the tournament at 1-4 with a 25-21, 28-26 victory over Boylan for 11th place.