Naperville North senior setter Leah Norris knows how to stay organized.

That’s a vital quality for someone who has a 4.15 GPA and intends to major in engineering.

“Engineering is a really hard major, and I have to stay motivated,” Norris said. “You have to be really organized, get your homework done and stay on top of everything. That helps me on the court.”

The 5-foot-11 Norris, in turn, is helping the Huskies. The Arizona beach volleyball recruit is in her first season as Naperville North’s full-time setter after being a nomad of sorts last year, when she was the backup setter and full-time right side hitter. She even played some outside hitter.

“It’s great. I love setting,” Norris said. “I think it allows me to run the court a lot better instead of being in so many different positions. It’s been good.”

Naperville North coach Jennifer Urban likes what she has seen from Norris.

“Leah has done a great job for us,” Urban said. “She’s a very hard worker, and she’s one of our captains.

“She is someone who is a great teammate and lets teammates know that she is going to be composed and someone they can count on. So she’s a great setter for us.”

The Huskies don’t have an overwhelmingly powerful hitter like they did the past four seasons with Paige Lauterwasser, who is a freshman at Wyoming. That means Norris has had to spread the ball around to a number of hitters.

It’s a different dynamic, but Norris indicated she’s comfortable with it.

“I think it means having someone step up with a lot of leadership on our team,” she said. “We have a lot of solid players, and it’s just putting it together and playing a good match together.”

Norris provided that leadership against host Wheaton Warrenville South on Wednesday. She handed out 15 assists and also had seven service points, two aces and five digs in Naperville North’s 25-22, 25-16 loss.

It wasn’t enough to propel the Huskies (4-3) to victory. Wheaton Warrenville South (7-4) had too much firepower as setter Rebecca Bellows, a Wake Forest commit, masterfully ran the offense.

But Norris and the Huskies demonstrated their mettle by making a valiant comeback in the first set. They trailed 23-13 before Norris set up senior middle Cate Thompson for a kill. Norris then served six consecutive points, beginning with back-to-back aces, to pull Naperville North within 23-20.

“Wheaton South is definitely the fastest team offensively that we have played, and they have some really strong hitters,” Urban said. “I was really proud of the way our team came back in the first set. I thought we showed a lot of grit.”

Norris was the catalyst.

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“She definitely works hard,” Urban said. “She’s someone that’s going to give her best effort in practices and matches.”

Norris did that against the Tigers. She wasn’t fazed by the big deficit.

“It was just keeping it in play and pushing points,” she said. “Obviously, we were down by a lot, so you can’t win a game without keeping the serve in and playing good defense.”

Thompson paced Naperville North’s attack with six kills, and junior middle Alyse Hoffman added four kills. Senior defenders Sydney Kushner and Allison Higgs combined for 13 digs.

As for Norris, she’s going to enjoy her final season of indoor volleyball.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I think beach transfers really well to the indoor court because you’re doing everything — digging, passing and setting and hitting. I think it helped me a lot. It’s helped me get a lot faster and jump a lot higher.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.