How Hononegah ended Belvidere North's 79-match NIC-10 volleyball winning streak
ROCKTON — Belvidere North seldom talked about it. But everyone else in NIC-10 girls volleyball did.
“It’s a huge topic,” Hononegah Libero Molly Littlefield said of Belvidere North carrying a 79-match conference winning streak into the start of the season. “We have been trying to run them down for as long as we can.”
North, the six-time defending NIC-10 champ, finally looked vulnerable this season, graduating five starters — four of them NCAA Division I recruits. Only Ireland Henry, a 5-foot-2 Libero, returned as a starter from the reigning Class 3A state runners-up.
“No pressure, right?” North coach Amanda (Carlson) Hicks said before Tuesday’s season opener at Hononegah. “But these juniors that have played freshman and JV ball, they have never lost a conference match either. We don’t talk about it, but a lot of people around us talk about it, either because they want to continue it or see it stopped. It’s important to them. I wouldn’t sleep on them.”
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Nobody is going to sleep on Belvidere North. But Hononegah did put one of the more impressive win streaks in NIC-10 history to bed, beating North 25-12, 25-19 in front of a loud and festive home crowd Tuesday.
“When we all walked out here, it was so loud and there was so much energy, I absolutely loved it,” said Ember Gunnink, who had four of Hononegah’s 13 kills on the night. “I hope the whole season can be like this.
“Oh my gosh, it’s amazing,” Gunnink said of finally beating North. “It’s all we talk about: ‘We’ve got to beat B North.’ It was so much fun. They are such a good team.”
Hononegah has a grand volleyball tradition of its own, winning at least 20 matches in 31 of its last 33 full seasons (not counting the COVID season). But Hononegah has come up second-best to North repeatedly in the last few years.
"We should have done it before, but we brought it all out tonight and are excited to beat them.”,” said Sydney Kidd, who had two kills for Hononegah.
How Hononegah snapped the streak
Hononegah made it look easy in the first set. North never led and the last time the Blue Thunder were even tied was at 4-4. Hononegah won 10 of the last 12 points to put the set away, 25-12.
Hononegah then quickly built a big 12-5 lead in the second set. North then mounted a comeback, led by outside hitter Bree Messenger, who has made scattered starts the previous two years as an injury fill-in. Messenger put away three balls in a four-point stretch to pull the Blue Thunder to within 17-18. Then back-to-back errors by Hononegah gave North its first — and only — lead of the night at 19-18.
Hononegah rebounded to quickly win the last seven points to end the match.
“We lost it for a little bit and then we realized we have to get it going again and picked it up,” Kidd said.
“It feels amazing,” Littlefield said. “We are finally taking them down.”
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Hononegah stepped up its defense late, digging out balls that looked like North winners, including one memorable point where Littlefield ran back almost to the tarp behind the court to keep alive a point eventually won by Hononegah.
“The scrappyness gives us new life,” Littlefield said. “We’re as scrappy as the night is long.”
Lili Hagg, who led Hononegah with five kills and had three of their six blocks, ended the match with her final kill of the night.
“I saw that free ball come over the net and it was like, ‘Let’s go. This is my chance. We’ve got to beat them. This is going to be their losing streak,' ” Hagg said. “I hit that ball and felt this rush of amazement. I was on top of the world right there.”
A chance to regroup for North
For the first time in seven years, Belvidere North is not on top of the NIC-10 volleyball race. But the Blue Thunder aren’t rattled.
“It’s actually a really good opportunity for everyone to grow,” North’s Messenger said. “Once our team gets a little more time to be together as a team, our chemistry will be better and we can come back a lot better.”
“We do have a big streak — or did have a big streak — on our backs, but streaks are made to be broken eventually,” said Olivia Tremud, a 5-foot-10 junior for North. “This just makes us want to work harder.”
For a Hononegah team that has chased Belvidere North for so long, this might just be the beginning. For the first time, these Hononegah players will wake up in the morning and find themselves ahead of Belvidere North in the conference standings.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Hagg said. “I’m going to read it, but I’m not going to believe it for a little bit.”
Other notable NIC-10 win streaks
Includes ties for first place in the NIC-10
Football: Boylan won 75 consecutive NIC-10 games from 2006-13. Hononegah broke the streak.
Girls soccer: Boylan won the first 20 league titles, from 1986-2005. Hononegah broke the streak.
Boys basketball: Boylan won nine consecutive league titles from 1991-99 until Guilford won in 2000.
Boys golf: Guilford won 17 consecutive conference titles from 1976-92 until Boylan won in 1993.
Boys swimming: Guilford won 19 league titles in a row from 1980-98 before Auburn won in 1999.
Boys tennis: Guilford won 13 straight titles from 1982-94. Freeport snapped the string in 1995.
Longest current streak: Hononegah has won 11 straight boys swimming titles.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: IHSA volleyball: How Hononegah ended North's NIC-10 win streak
