Big runs and confident play helped the Joliet Junior College volleyball team earn a hard-fought victory over Waubonsee Community College on Thursday, 3-2.

The first two sets were close, as the Wolves (11-20) won the first, 25-23, while Waubonsee took the second, 26-24.The Wolves rolled to a 25-15 win in the third but Waubonsee forced a fifth match with a 25-17 win in the fourth. Again, the Wolves rolled to a 15-6 finish to win. 

Wolves head coach Tom Welsh said the win feels good.

"It's a good team. Their record doesn't show it but they play really hard and they fought really hard," Welsh said of Waubonsee. "I thought we did a really good job of sticking to our guns and handling business. We had our ups and downs but overall, it was a really good match that we played."

Welsh was happy to see his team win the third set the way they did.

"It's a confidence thing," he said. "It's something that if we see a little bit of adversity, then we kind of crumble a little bit. That set, we did things we normally don't do. We made an error and then we sorted it out right away and pushed forward."

Welsh contrasted the third set with the fourth, where he said the Wolves made errors but didn't correct in that set.

Freshman Livija Luzaite finished with eight kills and a pair of blocks for the Wolves. Luzaite said she believes this win will help the team build confidence as they enter the final stretch of the season.

"Something I'm definitely taking away from this game is being able to play smart and then having my teammates back me up when we do get in those hard situations or if we are behind in points," she said.

Ella Phelps also finished with eight kills and tallied 20 digs. Haylee Dunne had 12 assists while Gabby Bernar had 11. Natalie Martinez finished with 16 digs. 

Next up for the Wolves, they host the JJC Invite on Saturday beginning with a 10 a.m. match against Kishwaukee College. The Wolves will also play St. Louis Community College and the University of St.Francis JV team on Saturday.