Girls volleyball: Scouting St. Charles E. vs. York
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
The York girls volleyball team knows that saying all too well. The past two seasons St. Charles East has defeated York in the sectional finals, including a 2008 victory on the Saints' road to the Class 4A state title.
Yet the Dukes haven't stopped trying, and after defeating Batavia in the semifinals Tuesday night York has earned another shot at St. Charles East in the sectional finals.
The fourth-seeded Saints (27-10) will go for their fourth straight sectional title when they play No. 2 York (32-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bartlett.
Besides an incredibly balanced, experienced and talented team, York coach Patty Iverson can also feel good that this year the Dukes are going into the championship match as the favorite.
“We were the underdogs the last two times and now we are the higher seed,” Iverson said. “They are a tough team even if they don't have the guns they had last year they know how to win, they have the tradition of winning. We're going to have to come in and play better than we did (Tuesday).”
The Dukes came closer to beating the Saints last year than in ‘08, pushing St. Charles East to 3 games in the final played at Geneva.
York also returns five starters from that match. The Dukes feature outside hitters Caroline Rose and Melissa Deatsch both who had 8 kills against Batavia middles Morgan Semmelhack and Sam Schrenker, and setters Katie Gallagher and Emily Iverson. York also is solid in the back row with libero Claire Grabinski who had 15 digs Tuesday.
Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne, who knows both teams well after defeating the Saints in two games in September and losing to York Tuesday, said how the Dukes defend St. Charles East outside hitters Sam Szarmach and Meghan Niski will be a key.
“It's going to be an interesting match,” Trippi-Payne said. “St. Charles East will have to get York out of system. I think York will have to play really good defense against St. Charles East's outside hitters. Their outside hitters put down a lot of balls. They are going to have to find a way not to get tooled on the block. We tooled York's block a lot on the outside and right side and they are going to have to find a way to stop that because St. Charles East plays the same way. It's going to be a good match.”
About the only aspect of Tuesday's semifinal victory over No. 1 seed West Chicago that the Saints didn't like was the way they let the Wildcats back in both games late especially a 30-28 win in Game 1 when the Saints were ahead 23-16 and wound up having to fight off two West Chicago game points.
“That was a great lesson for us,” Saints coach Jennie Kull said.
“It's not something we enjoy doing, letting teams come back on us when we have been leading the whole time,” Szarmach said.
One of the reasons the Saints built that lead, as well a big reason they have continued playing well even after starting setter Erienne Barry was lost to a season-ending knee injury Oct. 5, has been the play of Stephanie Camper. The junior setter had 22 assists and 2 aces against West Chicago.
“She's had a hard job,” Kull said. “She's stepped up and made some great strides and I'm really proud of how she is doing. It's a hard role to come into to run a team in the middle of the season and to flourish and she really has. The kids are supporting her and it's just a great feeling right now. Stephanie is a very confident, assured person.”
Like York, the Saints have balance in their lineup from libero Maisey Mulvey to middles Olvia Desormey and Nichole Lambert.
Lambert said even though the Saints are the team that has got the best of York lately, they look at themselves and their No. 4 seed as the underdog Thursday.
“It (postseason experience) sets the standard for us,” Lambert said. “We know what we can do. We know we can make it all the way. We want to come out and show people we still have it.”