New high for Furlan, Pats

Chelsea Furlan claims she can touch nine feet, and while she was jumping high enough Wednesday night to scratch Cloud Nine, the 5-foot-6 senior doesn't know her vertical jump in inches.

All that matters for Stevenson's volleyball team, in truth, is that she can leap high enough to spike a ball over the net. And since starting outside hitter Taylor Berland suffered a season-ending separated shoulder last weekend, Furlan has more than just risen to the occasion.

She's skyrocketed.

"I'm a pretty high jumper," Furlan said with a laugh after she helped Stevenson defeat visiting Wauconda 25-17, 25-21 for the North Suburban Conference championship.

"She was crushing the ball," Patriots libero Izzy Shaindlin said. "It was amazing."

Furlan, who received her first varsity start Monday night against Palatine, slammed 5 kills for the second match in a row. Maria Skillman and Mary Kate Fritzsche led Stevenson (23-7) with 7 and 6 kills, respectively. Setters Jenna Przbyla and Maggie Lundstrom dished out a combined 20 assists.

"We were essentially able to get the ball to Maria early and quick, so that opened up things for everybody else on the outside, and Jenna and Maggie did a good job of getting the ball quickly to Chelsea," Patriots coach Tim Crown said. "(Furlan) has a nice, quick swing. So if we can get the ball out quickly to her, she can take advantage."

Wauconda (25-4) was the aggressor in Game 1, building leads of 6-2 and 10-6. Lauren Mead had 4 of her match-high 8 kills in the early going.

"We came out really strong," Bulldogs coach Jonathan Grandt said. "We were aggressive to begin with. They had a good middle attack and they took advantage of that and we got put on our heels a little bit."

"I think it was just jitters," Crow said of his Patriots' slow start. "I was surprised to see us serve-receiving that poorly in the beginning, but they were serving tough."

Key for Stevenson was neutralizing the effectiveness of the 6-2 duo of Mead and Maddie Westman, 6-foot Becky Breakfield and 5-11 freshman Erinn Hellweg. Breakfield had 4 kills.

"We scouted them," said Shaindlin, who had 20 digs. "We started running plays that were making them move around a lot. As long as we moved them around, we could get kill after kill."

Stevenson bolted to a 5-0 lead in Game 2 and enjoyed a 10-point cushion on three occasions. But behind some strong play from Stephanie Olson and the serving of Michelle Waltenburg, Wauconda crept within 24-21.

When Michelle Fleishman drove an attack that Wauconda couldn't handle, Stevenson had its fourth NSC title in five years.

Kristy Waltenburg lofted 16 assists for Wauconda, while Lisa Aguilar recorded 10 digs.

Former-sub Furlan drove 4 of her kills in the second game.

"I just had such an adrenaline rush," Furlan said. "This was the game to win and I needed to step up my game."