Benet's learning there are no shortcuts in volleyball
Meghan Haggerty sounds wise beyond her 16 years, reciting the biggest lesson she learned from winning a national championship this summer with her Sports Performance club volleyball team.
"Never take shortcuts," said the Benet junior. "You have to go the long way. But it will pay off in the end."
Benet's volleyball team could heed that sage advice right now.
Shortly before the high school season started, I heard one Benet fan predict the Redwings would go 84-0 this year and next. Watching the Redwings recognize their staggering six Division I recruits prior to the season opener, it was frankly hard to judge that enthusiasm.
But the best laid plans of mice and men have gone somewhat awry these first two weeks. After Wednesday's loss to York, Benet is sitting at 4-3. It's been Halloween the last two years before the Redwings' third defeat; this year they had it by Labor Day.
"We know that it's not impossible for us to lose matches," said Benet junior Jenna Jendryk, also a teammate of Haggerty's on the Sports Performance 18 Elite. "There are other good teams out there."
Indeed Benet hasn't exactly lost to chopped liver. St. Charles East, Hinsdale Central and York are among the top 10 teams in the Chicago area.
Growing pains can be expected with a few new, albeit talented, kids getting their feet wet playing varsity volleyball. Haggerty, perhaps Benet's best player, is still finding her way at outside after playing middle last fall and in club. She admitted the team needs to play with more confidence and energy.
Haggerty, committed to Wisconsin, hasn't got caught up in any hype over Benet's list of college prospects.
"It doesn't get to our heads," she said. "It's not important right now."
The singular focus, Haggerty said, is working every day toward Benet's ultimate goal of winning a state championship. That is what Jendryk took from her experience with Sports Performance - being part of a group of elite athletes building toward something big.
Nothing is taken for granted, as Jendryk well knows. She was shocked two years ago when her sister Jessica and Benet lost a state championship to St. Charles East that everyone expected the Redwings to win.
Jenna was on the court last year, when Benet was denied a return trip to state by Quincy. DuPage County schools in fact were shut out of the state volleyball tournament for the first time since 1978.
I guess you can't even take that for granted.
Jendryk, Haggerty and the Redwings remained steeled in their determination to make that a blip in the radar. And to ensure that these first two weeks are a speed bump to state.
"It's a lot better to lose early on than to win in the playoffs," Jendryk said. "Our original goal was to be national champions. We can't do that now. Now we want to be state champions and win every tournament we're in the rest of the season."
Softball: Kudos to Mary Connolly, Jenna Marsalli and Lindsey Rohan, members of the Stone City Sharks, who won the ASA Softball National Tournament in August. The Sharks beat the San Diego Renegades 9-7 in 10 innings in the championship game, Connolly getting the win. The Sharks went 9-1 in the tournament, Connolly throwing three shutouts.
Basketball: It's September but never too early to talk a little basketball. Sydney Sharkey, an All-Area honorable mention guard for Wheaton Academy as a sophomore, has transferred to Wheaton North and begun taking classes there. Sharkey joins a talented Falcons team led by Division I prospect Fantasia Vine.
jwelge@dailyherald.com