St. Charles N. rallies by Batavia
A furious finish proved better than a sensational start Tuesday night when St. Charles North traveled to Batavia for the Upstate Eight Conference River Division opener.
Defending champion Batavia looked sharp early, dominating Game 1 like the Bulldogs did in going 6-0 to win last year’s title.
The North Stars, though, never said die in any game. That started even in the Game 1 loss when St. Charles North erased 6 game points before losing 25-15.
The North Stars rode the momentum from there for a 15-25, 25-20, 25-22 come-from-behind victory — again rallying in Game 3 when Batavia held a 17-13 lead.
“It really built up our confidence and helped us push for that second game,” North Stars senior Kim Juriga said of the late rally in Game 1.
“One thing this season we have always worked on is our mental toughness and I think that really showed that we can come back even when we were down to push hard and finish the game.”
Juriga’s family moved to Batavia recently. Kim Juriga said she lives five minutes from the school, and it was “weird” playing against Batavia.
She certainly hurt her Bulldogs neighbors Tuesday, finishing with a game-high 14 kills plus 2 aces and 4 blocks as the North Stars adjusted in the final two games to hit around Batavia’s strong middle Kristen Koncelik (9 kills, 5 blocks, 2 aces).
“I was telling the girls they had to find the open holes,” North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins said. “We started mixing up our offense a lot better and made their middles think more.”
Trailing almost all of Game 3, St. Charles North (7-3, 1-0) tied the score at 17 on a Batavia lift.
Batavia (10-5, 0-1) went ahead two more times, the final one at 19-18 on a kill from Anysa Ocon.
But the Bulldogs got tentative down the stretch, passing on a couple chances for big swings to instead safely get the ball over.
Taylor Krage also stepped up for the North Stars with 2 key blocks that gave the North Stars 23-20 and 24-21 leads. Juriga followed with a kill on match point.
“We got blocked at the end because we weren’t running our plays,” Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. “It was very easy to see what we were going to run.
“We need to make some better decisions in Game 3. Both teams started to play it safe with their shot-making. We needed to keep swinging and go after them and we didn’t do that.”
Game 2 was the tightest of the night with 11 ties and 5 lead changes. The final tie came at 18-18 before Juriga had an ace and 2 kills in the final push.
That came as quite a contrast to Game 1 when Batavia’s strong serving kept St. Charles North out of its offense.
“They have to understand teams are going to come back on them,” Trippi-Payne said. “Teams are not going to lay down and die. It doesn’t work that way. A little disappointing because we have some experience on our team and they should know better.”
For the North Stars, Krage and Jill Stolzenburg followed Juriga with 6 kills each. Ali Gage had 3 aces and Emily Belz 31 assists.
Heather Meyer had 9 kills, Stephanie Kinane 12 digs and Mary Nilles 3 blocks and 29 assists for the Bulldogs.
“I told the girls the target is on our back this year,” Trippi-Payne said. “You better believe everyone is mad we won that conference last year and swept it and beat all the crossovers.”