St. Edward outlasts IC Catholic in marathon

St. Edward certainly had its resiliency and character tested on Thursday night and the Green Wave passed with flying colors.

After letting 3 match points slip away and dropping the second game against IC Catholic Prep, St. Edward wasn't about to let another opportunity pass it by. The Green Wave rallied back in Game 3 three to knock off the visiting Knights 25-23, 28-30, 25-17 in Metro Suburban West action in Elgin.

Freshman Dominique Washington led the St. Edward attack with 13 kills and had 11 assists. Cecile Rapp added 8 kills and 6 blocks.

"That second game was physically and emotionally exhausting for both teams," St. Edward coach Jaime Dovichi said. "It's never easy to get that momentum back after losing a tough game like that, but I thought we showed a lot of composure. It's a big win for us."

St. Edward (8-3, 2-1) trailed 5-4 early in Game 3 before Rapp knocked down back-to-back kills to put the Green Wave on top 6-5. Washington then rattled off 4 more service points to extend the advantage to 10-5.

Rapp later gave the Green Wave its biggest lead of the game with a kill that made it 21-14.

The Knights (5-4, 2-1), the defending Class 2A state champs, rallied back to within 21-18. However, a kill by Rapp ended the threat. Sarah Madden followed with an ace and Rapp then closed out the game with consecutive block kills.

"We really came together as a team after losing that second game," Rapp said. "We knew we had to close on our blocks more. The defense was a lot better in that last game."

The Knights' big hitter, Hannah Hartnett, had 19 kills through the first two games, but was held to just 3 in the final game.

"Everyone knew where the ball was going," said Dovichi. "We really stepped it up on the defensive side and Cece really came through with some big plays."

Washington set the tone early on for the Green Wave. She had 8 kills in the Game 1 win. After squandering a 5-point lead in Game 1 Washington pulled the Green Wave even at 23-23 with a kill. Samantha Boydston followed with an ace to give the Green Wave the lead at 24-23. Washington then closed the game out with an another kill.

"This is a tough team we played against," Washington said. "We had to work as a team to get around their blocks."

St. Edward led most of the way in Game 2 before IC managed to pull ahead late 22-21. The score was tied 6 times and there were 4 lead changes after that. The Knights finally pulled it out with back-to-back kills by Emma Hendricks and Claudia Koch.

However, unforced errors plagued the Knights all match. IC converted on just 32-of-53 (60 percent) of its kill attempts.

"I loved our team's energy and passion," IC coach Nancy D'Amore said. "But we are young and we're going to make our share of mistakes. That's OK though. We'll learn. I just tell them to keep swinging away and eventually they will start falling in at a higher rate."

Hartnett finished with a team-high 22 kills for the Knights. Frannie Cervone had 27 assists and Molly Manion added 27 digs.

Megan Barth added 9 kills for the Green Wave. Casey Grudzieleski had 18 assists.