ST. JOHN | Zarah Cecich and the rest of Times No. 6 Crown Point's senior class accomplished a feat they had never had the opportunity to celebrate Thursday.
After fighting through four tough games against Duneland Athletic Conference rival Lake Central, the Bulldogs' seniors posted a match victory for the first time in their careers in L.C.'s gym, winning in four games 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23.
"It feels great," Cecich said. "I can't wait to go to school and tell everyone about it. There's really a lot of pride."
The excitement was evident outside Lake Central's gym, as deafening cheers from Crown Point's bus filled the parking lot about 15 minutes after the Bulldogs (6-3, 3-0 DAC) fought back from a 22-18 deficit in the fourth game.
"They definitely had a lot of desire tonight," Crown Point coach Alison Duncan said. "I kept talking to them about that during every timeout. Winning here was one of our team goals, and I was happy they were able to come out here and be successful tonight."
Crown Point‘s second game was rife full of service errors and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Lake Central did a really great job of serving aggressively and coming at us with their lefties," Duncan said. "That throws a team off, and that definitely happened to us on occasion tonight."
The second game served as a wake-up call to Cecich and the rest of the Bulldogs' team, as Duncan's message of "beating themselves" clicked a switch in Cecich's head.
"We were very determined to beat L.C.," she said. "I can't even explain how happy and proud of the team I am."
Lately, Lake Central coach Tina Tinberg has noticed the Indians inability to start off strong in any given game. That was a problem throughout its match with C.P., such as the third game where the Indians (8-6, 2-1) fell behind 10-3.
"You can't give strings of four or five points to a competitor," she said. "That's where we need to execute better. We need to step on the court and get a jump and put everything together like a well-oiled machine."
