St. Charles North can't stop Benet

When two strong volleyball teams play well, you're usually in for a tight, down-to-the-wire match, and that's what St. Charles North was hoping to see Thursday night.

What the North Stars actually got was a taste of just how well top-seeded Benet (36-1) can play, and not even a stronger effort in the second game could prevent the host Redwings from claiming the Class 4A regional crown with a 25-11, 25-21 defeat of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division champions.

Benet, which hosted the match on short notice after it was switched from Neuqua Valley on Thursday afternoon, blitzed the North Stars (27-10) with a 12-5 opening run that featured a pair of block kills from all-state middle Rachael Fara, along with impressive attacks from a variety of Redwings hitters.

"North's a very good team. We played extremely well (in first game) and I thought they played OK," Benet coach Brad Baker said. "In the second game we both played OK. We expected the game to be tight. I thought the scores would be similar to what the second game was."

That's what St. Charles North had thought as well, but sophomore setter Sara Nielsen was on top of her game and the Redwings defense and passing helped her finish the night with 30 assists while feeding the likes of Dana Griffin and Veronica Snelling - 9 kills apiece - and Marissa Tassone, who had 5 kills in the middle.

"There really is no wrong person to set plus the defense gets up so many balls that I have so many opportunities to set people," said Nielsen, who added a pair of aces for good measure. "We all just work together and we're really focusing on the front row communicating with the back row."

St. Charles North, which used a big block to eliminate Neuqua Valley in Tuesday's semifinals, picked up a boost in the second set from the blocking of Kailey Grove, Daley Grage and Jacyln Taylor. The second set was tight and Grove recorded three straight winners at one point on a pair of blocks and a big attack that helped the North Stars take a 15-13 lead.

But it just was not enough to hold off a Redwings team that finished second in the state last year after winning it all the two previous seasons.

"With these kinds of teams, it's point by point," said Anderson, who paced the North Stars with 8 kills. "You're not really going to get on many big runs like with other teams. They're definitely one of the better teams we've played all year. We have to play with the cards we're dealt. There's nothing really we can do about it but believe, and I think we did."

Snelling, a sophomore outside, believes that if her team executes well, it can another deep run into the postseason. Thursday's win advances the Redwings to the Bartlett sectional where they will face Geneva in Tuesday's semifinals.

"We were just playing as a team really well, working together and just executing everything that we've been working on," she said. "We were just flowing well and the passes were there and Sara's sets were great."