ROCHELLE — It seemed every time the Rochelle Township High School girls’ varsity volleyball team needed a big point against Sycamore Thursday night, Sylvia Hasz was there to give it to them.
The sophomore, who had eight kills and seven digs, delivered several key points in the final stretch to lead the Lady Hubs to an exciting 25-20, 25-22 victory.
“She’s really smart,” RTHS varsity coach Molly Sly said afterwards. “She sees the ball really well and sees the floor and knows what’s opened. She’s really fun to watch.”
Hasz was one of several Lady Hubs who played a key role in their win, including junior Clare Green who had 18 assists. The win was especially welcome for Rochelle after losing to Mendota in straight sets the night before.
“It feels really good,” Hasz said of the win. “It feels really nice to pull that out like we knew we could.”
“It made us feel better about the last few games,” senior Katie Van Hise said, adding that they were more “pumped up” to play Sycamore.
Unlike their Wednesday loss, Rochelle jumped out to a big lead early in both matches against the Lady Spartans, and managed to hang on both times.
“The last week we’ve been harping on them to play from point one to 25,” Sly said. “And tonight we did.”
Not that Sycamore made it easy.
After the home Hubs jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first game, thanks to five straight points while sophomore Zoey Tabor was serving, Sycamore managed to keep the score close until a late Rochelle spurt sealed the win.
The second game was even closer, with seven ties, before the Lady Hubs took a slim lead they nursed until the very end. With the visitors trading scores with Rochelle the entire way, they cut the deficit to just one at 23-22.

It was then Emma Smith scored before Hasz ended the night with a well-timed slam that landed between a trio of diving Lady Spartans.
“When they got close, we got a little shaky – because of what happened last night,” Hasz admitted. “But we came back and fought.”
Despite the closeness of the match, Van Hise – who finished with nine kills -  wasn’t worried. “I was pretty confident my team could get the win,” she said.
Despite Sycamore’s front line duo of Caylee Sharkey and Kylie Feurbach, who combined for a number of double blocks at the net, Sly said her hitters played well against them.
Sophs fall
In the sophomore match, Rochelle lost 11-25, 15-25, but saw some contributions across the board from team members. Payton Hale had four kills, while Addie Friestad had two kills and Zoey Tabor added one kill. Idaly Aguila and Ella McKinney both recorded two serving aces, while Zoe Rourke and Megan Thompson both had one ace.
Mendota loss
It was a nice run that didn’t quite pan out.
The Rochelle Township High School girls’ volleyball team was trailing Mendota 22-14 late in the second game of their match Wednesday night when they suddenly went on a spurt.
Behind some great shots by a number of players,  including sophomore Sylvia Hasz and junior Clare Green, the Lady Hubs reeled off five straight points to cut the deficit to just three.
After trading points on several dramatic shots on both sides, Rochelle was only down by one point when the visitors managed to put the match away 25-23.
The loss dropped Rochelle to 11-6.
“We just dug ourselves into a hole,” junior Afi Gati said afterwards. Nevertheless, she said the team had a “to push to the end mentality.”
Green agreed.
“We knew we could play better so we gave it our all,” she said.
 She finished the night with a team leading 16 assists.
Senior Katie Van Hise led the Hubs with seven kills while Hasz had 10 digs.
Admitting that her team started off slow, RTHS varsity coach Molly Sly noted that “the way we finished is the way we should start. We want to play a whole match that way.”
Rochelle also dropped the sophomore match, losing in what turned out to be a thrilling match. After dropping the first game 4-25, Rochelle came back to win the second one, 26-24, before losing the finale, 25-11.
Rochelle did win the freshman match, sweeping all four games. The A team won 25-20, 25-19 while the B team was victorious 25-16, 25-20. The A team record is now 5-1.