ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity volleyball team overcame a sluggish start against LaSalle-Peru on Tuesday, fighting back from a first-set deficit and outlasting the Cavaliers in a marathon second set before finishing the third set strong to score a 22-25, 30-28, 25-15 win. Junior Isela Vasquez totaled a season-high 26 assists for the Lady Hubs, who improved to 9-9.

Despite entering with a 3-10 record, LaSalle-Peru controlled the match early in the first set, taking advantage of several serve-receive errors from Rochelle to take a 9-2 lead. The Lady Hubs shifted some players around, with junior middle hitter Payton Hale moving to the back row to fortify the defense. Rochelle fought within two points of L-P, with senior Sylvia Hasz providing power on the serve and junior Addie Friestad scoring multiple kills on the outside.

“We definitely struggled last week and we started slow during the first set,” Hasz said. “But we proved that we wanted to win and we didn’t stop fighting. I thought we became much stronger mentally as the match went on. Serve receives are more of a mental game and I thought we were much more focused and we kept more balls up as the match went on.”

After holding off the Lady Hubs in the first set, LaSalle-Peru surged ahead in the second set, capitalizing on multiple service errors from Rochelle to build up a 15-10 advantage. Looking to avoid a fifth consecutive loss, the Lady Hubs leaned on their two strongest hitters in Hasz and Friestad, who delivered a series of kills to bring Rochelle within one point and eventually tie the set after a Cavalier timeout. Hasz and Friestad combined for 19 kills in the victory.

“We definitely started passing the ball better,” Hasz said. “Our passes were all over the place when the match started and we weren’t very consistent, but I thought our passing improved and we were able to run our offense more effectively as the match went on.”

With the second set tied at 25-25, Rochelle and LaSalle-Peru split the next six points before scoring the final two to force a third-set tiebreaker. The Lady Hubs continued pressuring the Cavaliers with their newfound momentum during the third set, taking an 8-4 lead and forcing a LaSalle-Peru timeout after a handful of Cavalier errors. Hasz and Friestad touched the ball on nearly every offensive series for the Lady Hubs, who grew their lead to as many as 10 points.

“We needed this win to keep going,” Hasz said. “I think this win will give us a spark.”

Morris

The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity volleyball team battled Morris on the road Thursday, dropping the match 19-25, 17-25 to move to 9-10 overall.

Senior Sylvia Hasz totaled six kills and one block, while junior Addie Friestad added four kills and junior Payton Hale recorded two blocks. Junior Isela Vasquez had 11 assists.

Kaneland

The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity volleyball team faced Kaneland on the road this past Thursday, falling 12-25, 10-25 to drop to 8-9 on the season. Senior Sylvia Hasz finished with seven kills and one ace for the Lady Hubs, while junior Payton Hale added two kills and one block.