St. Charles North's win creates 3-way River tie

St. Charles North coach Lindsey Hawkins felt her team turned a corner over the weekend taking second place at the Schaumburg Saxon Invitational.

That progress was on display for all of St. Charles to see on Volley for the Cure night Tuesday. In front of a packed gym at St. Charles East, the North Stars stunned the Saints with a 25-14, 25-22 victory that denied the hosts the outright Upstate Eight Conference River Division championship.

Instead, St. Charles North (20-8, 6-1) earned a share with St. Charles East (22-7, 6-1) for a second straight year. This time the teams also shared the crown with Geneva.

"I think everything just finally started to come together," said Jaclyn Taylor, one of the many North Stars who kept seemingly every ball alive in the back row. "We've been focusing on what happens on our side of the net."

The North Stars were just as good in the front row as the back. They frustrated the Saints hitters either by blocking their shots at the net, digging them in the back, or forcing them to put a little extra on their swings that contributed to 12 hitting errors.

"We were really good at reading the block tonight and we were always in the right spot," said Emily Carroll who had a game-high 5 blocks. "I think that really helped our defense.

"Them being our rival we have kind of been keeping tabs on them the whole season. We've watched a few games and some film and we are friends with some of those players so we know their tendencies. That helped."

Cary-Grove topped the North Stars in a hard-fought 25-23, 25-23 match in that Schaumburg title game Saturday. North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins finally saw the consistency and teamwork she's been looking for.

"A lot of things we've been working on clicked this weekend," Hawkins said. "They seemed to have found some belief in themselves. I think one of the biggest things is we've been playing as six individuals out there for a long time and now we're playing as one big unit and that's tough to beat."

The North Stars certainly were tough Tuesday. They came out strong and never looked back.

After Alex Mazanke slammed an over-pass on the first point for what turned out to be the Saints' only lead at 1-0, the North Stars responded with an 8-1 run that forced an early timeout from Saints coach Jennie Kull.

Megan Schildmeyer's pretty one-handed set to Mikaela Mosquera went for one of the few Saints highlights, cutting their deficit to 9-6.

The North Stars quickly got going again, a Claire Anderson kill and a Carroll block igniting 8 straight points for a 17-6 lead.

Up 21-11, Francesca Neari made a sprawling dig to extend a point that Daley Krage ended moments later with a thunderous kill. On the next point Kailey Grove slammed down Taryn Dal Degan's quick set in the middle. The North Stars won the set when the Saints hit out on game point.

"When we get the block up it is really good to set (the back row) around," Taylor said. "Our block was really strong which made playing defense easy. Our determination is if you think you can go for the ball you can get it. It's all in your mind."

The North Stars also capitalized on the Saints' 7 hitting errors in the opening set.

"They played very well tonight and we didn't," Kull said. "We didn't execute. I was a little disappointed. Something we have to train a little more on."

It was more of the same in Game 2, though the Saints did build an early 7-3 lead behind a couple Schildmeyer kills and her ace.

The North Stars quickly regained control, this time with a 16-5 run to go up 18-12. Anderson again was in the middle of it, her booming kill making it 14-12. That was the first of six straight points with Taylor serving that featured more dominating play at the net from Carroll and Krage.

The Saints rallied late and got as close as 23-21 on a tip kill from Mazanke. The North Stars stayed composed and closed the match with the last of Anderson's game-high 6 kills.

Other North Stars leaders included Dal Degan (6 digs, 4 assist), Grove (2 kills), Krage (5 kills, 3 blocks), Samantha Lappin (3 digs), Megan Russell (3 digs) and Taylor (10 digs, 5 assists).

"It's a tough conference and tough sectional but it's great to be playing in this atmosphere where the volleyball is so good," Hawkins said. "I'm glad to be in this conference. It makes for a tough fight every year."

Schildmeyer (6 kills, 5 digs, 9 assists), Annie Hughes (12 digs) and Morgan Kull (2 aces, 7 assists) led the Saints.

"Fortunately it's not the last game of the season," Jennie Kull said. "We can make those adjustments."