St. Charles East frustrates Waubonsie Valley in sweep
No disrespect to visiting St Charles East, but Thursday's loss was a tough one for Waubonsie Valley to swallow.
Sure the Saints (17-5) came to town with an impressive record that just landed them a No. 3 seed at the loaded Class 4A Bartlett sectional, but Warriors coach Kristen Didier was left wondering "what if" after St. Charles East came away with a 25-21, 25-22 Upstate Eight Conference crossover win.
The Warriors (17-9) missed five serves and were sloppy on the attack while dropping the first game by four points. The hosts then stumbled into a 24-17 hole in the nightcap before rallying to within 24-22. The set and the match then went to St. Charles East after Warrior Taylor Dunwell just barely missed the sideline on her attack.
"To me this is our most frustrating loss to date because that wasn't the best we're capable of playing and it's not the best we've played," said Didier, whose Warriors earned an 11th seed at the Bartlett sectional.
While the Warriors may not have been at their best, plenty of credit has to go to a Saints team that was missing two players due to illness but still looked sharp.
Senior Chloe Rojas, who recently committed to play at Eastern Kentucky, took over the libero role from Anne Hughes, an Eastern Illinois recruit who was out sick. Rojas sparked the Saints backrow defense, while senior middle Mikaela Mosquera threw up a big block that paved the way to victory.
"Chloe Rojas had to be the libero today and did a phenomenal job," said Saints coach Jennie Kull, who also was without the services of outside hitter Ally Watson. "That's the first time she played libero at East and she did a great job."
St. Charles East had a solid outside attack that included big nights from Kyla Augustine and Megan Schildmeyer, but Mosquera and her teammates also seemed to come up with big blocks at just the right time to slow Waubonsie rallies.
"All of us team-wise chipped in on blocking and it was huge for us. Then we could take them out of system and get points," said Mosquera, a 6-foot-2 senior. "It was a team effort. We were digging up the balls, taking them out of system and getting the blocks."
A kill by Meagan Smith off a set from Schildmeyer put the Saints up 11-4 in the first game, but the Warriors closed the gap to 12-9. However another St. Charles East run increased the lead to 22-12 following a missed serve by the Warriors and a block by Mosquera.
The second game was similar as the home team fell behind but fought back to make things close before coming up short.
"I really felt like … we wanted too long," Didier said. "I told them when I called the first timeout, I told them you can not get too far down against a team like that. You have to keep it close and then try and push ahead if you can.
"But if you let them get a 7-point lead on you, they're a good team and they're not going to make a lot of unforced errors typically. So it's going to be difficult to come back."