Early in the volleyball season, Plainfield North played a rigorous schedule, including a pair of high-quality tournaments and some nonconference matches against perennially strong programs.

Because of that schedule, the Tigers came into Tuesday night’s Southwest Prairie Conference match against District 202 rival Plainfield South with an overall record of 8-12. They were also 0-3 in the SPC, having played Joliet West, Oswego East and Bolingbrook, all in the top four of the league standings along with Minooka.

The Tigers used the experience they gained from those tough matches and put it to good use Tuesday, sweeping the Cougars 25-19, 25-23.

Senior Kayla Overbeek delivered the kill on match point, her seventh kill of the match. She wasn’t alone, as Gia Burton had five kills, and sophomore Lindsey Balsano had a team-high eight. Overbeek also had the kill to end the first set.

“Our early schedule definitely prepared us for the rest of the season,” Overbeek said. “We know that no matter who we play, we have to show up and play hard. We always get a little more emotionally up when we play another Plainfield school. They are all our rivals, and we want to win all of those matches.

“We like to switch things up with who we are setting and what kind of shots we are hitting. I think we have showed a lot of improvement from the beginning of the year, and we’re starting to get into a pretty good groove.”

The opening set saw Plainfield South (5-10, 1-3) move out to an 8-5 lead after a kill by Grace Malek, who had six kills to tie Leah Oehmke for the team lead. Plainfield North hung tough and tied it at 9 before South took a 12-10 lead on an Oehmke kill.

South got a 14-12 lead on a block by Malek before North got the serve back on a kill by Balsano. Izzy Davis then served back-to-back aces, and Ava Manfredi had a block on consecutive points to give the Tigers a 17-14 lead. Balsano had three kills and an ace as the Tigers built a 22-16 lead, and a kill by Overbeek put them ahead 23-16. South pulled to 24-19 on a kill by Olivia Sain before Overbeek ended the set.

“We just got done with the very long part of our schedule,” North coach Matt Slechta said. “We had a couple of big tournaments on back-to-back weekends, so at the end of last week we gave the girls four days off in a row.

“Our last match was last Tuesday, so the girls got some rest. I think that rest helped them tonight.”

The second set was tight like the first, with ties at 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9 before South moved out to a 12-9 lead after a combined block by Riley Kulik and Addy Gomorczak and a kill by Sain. North rallied to tie the score at 16, but South got a pair of points on North hitting errors to take an 18-16 lead.

Burton got a kill to make it 18-17 and give the serve to the Tigers. After a South hitting error, North took the lead on an ace by Rylee Richards. Burton then delivered back-to-back kills before a rotation error and a net violation by South put the Tigers ahead 23-18.

The Cougars rallied, getting a kill by Sain and an ace by Alexis Smith to make it 23-21. Overbeek got a kill for the Tigers to make it 24-21, but a Tigers serving error, followed by a hitting error, brought South to within 24-23 before Overbeek ended it with a kill.

“Our goal is to spread the ball around, which we did tonight,” Slechta said. “It takes the stress off of any one hitter and keeps the defense guessing. We are better when more people are involved.

“We were very young last year and return quite a few starters. Our goal is to make sure we are ready to play in late October. We challenged the girls early with our schedule, but we can see it paying off now. Our record might not be great to look at, but playing those matches will help us later on.”