Benet going back ‘home’ for Wheaton Classic
Wheaton has been a home away from home for the Benet volleyball team in recent years.
Will it continue this weekend?
The No. 2-ranked Redwings are the top seed at the Wheaton Classic this week, which concludes Saturday at Wheaton Warrenville South High School.
Benet (9-1), which has won 10 straight regular-season tournaments dating back to 2010, took first at Wheaton the last two years and four of the last five. The Redwings are 24-1 in five year’s worth of matches at Wheaton, with a third-place finish in 2010.
Three-peating will be no walk in the park, though.
A deep field includes Marist, which handed Benet its only loss this season. Also at Wheaton is No. 3 St. Charles North (10-0), No. 4 Waubonsie Valley (10-1) and No. 9 Naperville North (7-1),
“It’s a good tournament, there is no question about it,” Benet coach Brad Baker said. “This tournament is always a great test for us. It’s always packed with great teams.”
Benet, still without standout middle Brittany Pavich as she recovers from a shoulder injury, shuffled its offense last week to generate more offense.
Six-foot senior Stephanie Sinnappan was moved from setter to outside, sophomore Tiffany Clark also switched to an outside position and senior Whitney Battoe moved from outside to right-side. Sarah Nielsen, a freshman, assumed setting duties.
“We hope that they bring a little more offense from what we were doing,” Baker said. “We were doing really well, but our goals aren’t to be doing really well; we want to win the whole thing. We need to be better than that. In those big matches we want to win by earning points.”
Hilltoppers prove themselves in Effingham:Glenbard West beefed up its nonconference schedule this year, a trip to Effingham#146;s Crossroads Classic chief among the upgrades.The Hilltoppers sure showed well.In the competitive 24-team event with teams from four states, Glenbard West (12-2) took third place in the tournament won by St. Francis.Glenbard West beat 2012 tournament champion Champaign Centennial in Saturday#146;s quarterfinals, lost to defending Indiana Class 3A champ Indianapolis Bishop Chatard in the semis before bouncing back to beat Lexington Henry Clay for third place.#147;I really felt like we could have played with anybody in that tournament,#148; Hilltoppers coach Pete Mastandrea said. #147;We played with Chatard point for point; it could have gone either way. After that loss we really had to dig deep against Henry Clay. It shows you the kind of team I have.#148;Mastandrea noted the breakout performances of Alison Burelbach and Natalie Schilling, and the steady play of middles Caroline Jenkins and Katie Ball. Of libero Meg DeMaar, he said #147;she was just sensational #151; at MVP level.#148;#147;We#146;re really starting to see our team fall into place,#148; he said. #147;Schilling is playing like a senior, our setting and defense is getting better and our hitters can score.#148;Glenbard West steps right back into West Suburban Silver play with a tough one tonight, hosting Lyons Twp.#147;I didn#146;t know if we could get to the level we were at last year,#148; Mastandrea said, #147;but if you compare this year to last year we are better than we were last year at this time. I feel like a lot of the questions we had going into the season have been answered.#148; 21212737Kerry Desmond of Montini moves up to spike the ball past Miranda Heuser of Walther Christian, left, in girls volleyball action on Monday in Lombard.Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com 19131785Natalie Lopez of Montini gets to the ball in action against Walther Christian during girls volleyball on Monday in Lombard.Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com