St. Charles East rallies past Wheaton Warrenville South
St. Charles East might not have wanted a wake-up call starting postseason play Tuesday night at the Class 4A Glenbard South regional, but Wheaton Warrenville South sure delivered one.
The Tigers rallied to win the first set, putting the 27-8 and third-seeded Saints one set away from seeing their season end.
St. Charles East responded with strong defense at the net and in the back row to survive the 15th-seeded Tigers' upset bid, 22-25, 25-11, 25-12.
The Saints (28-8) will play No. 11 seed Waubonsie Valley for the regional title at 6 p.m. Thursday.
"Everyone stepped up," said St. Charles East senior middle Mikaela Mosquera who led her team with 8 kills and 4 blocks. "We knew they would slide outside and we just had to adjust on our block and our defense."
That slide play, directed by Tigers star setter Rachel Burau - who finished with 24 assists, 8 digs and 2 kills - did work to Erin Staunton for 5 kills.
But the Saints were equally impressive digging tough shots led by Anne Hughes with 21 digs and Caroline Mckeighan 11.
"We've been working on our defense and I think that showed today," Saints coach Jennie Kull said. "We have been working on our serve-receive and I was pleased with that. Now we just have to get our attack going and we'll have the whole package."
Megan Schildmeyer opened the match with an ace and had another for a 3-0 lead. The Saints had 10 aces in the match including four from Hughes and three by Schildmeyer.
Wheaton Warrenville South (12-25) pulled even at 10 on consecutive sets from Burau to junior Kristin Martin, who led both teams with 10 kills to go with 9 digs.
Martin's kill put the Tigers ahead to stay at 21-20, and they sealed the set when the Saints hit off the antenna.
"They were prepared, they did a really nice job," Kull said. "We had a little jitters."
Mosquera helped the Saints quickly regain the momentum with two early blocks in the second set. After six service points from Hughes, Schildmeyer fired four more for an 11-1 lead.
Mckeighan's short serve dropped for an ace and a 14-6 lead, and Avery Macklin ended one of several long rallies with a kill to make it 18-7.
The Tigers never got any closer in the second set, then fell behind again early in the third, 4-1 when Morgan Kull found Mosquera in the middle. WW South closed within 11-9 before the Saints ended the match scoring 14 of the final 17 points, sealing the outcome when Macklin hit consecutive balls off the Tigers block and out of bounds.
"I just saw the court, saw the block and what was open," said Macklin who came off the bench for 6 kills. "I feel like we picked it up a lot the last game."
Morgan Kull (15 assists) and Meagan Smith (7 kills) also contributed while Schildmeyer once again filled the stat sheet with 14 assists, 5 digs and 7 kills.
"I thought Avery had a really good game that second and third game," Jennie Kull said. "It's been someone every game making a difference. We're just pleased we have another day."
Paula Gross added 13 digs for the Tigers.
"I thought we had a good game plan tonight and I thought we really executed," WW South coach Bill Schreier said. "We knew what we wanted to accomplish. They made some adjustments in the second set and I don't think we responded that well. We didn't match their intensity level. They elevated their game. We stayed status quo."