St. Charles East rallies late, beats Wheaton North
It's tough to find a better atmosphere to watch girls volleyball than St. Charles East, and the Saints' home opener Tuesday had it all - a big crowd, fans of both teams singing along to "Sweet Caroline," a tense 3-set match, and a comeback that sent the home side home happy.
St. Charles East lost the first set to Wheaton North and trailed 21-17 late in the third. The Saints found their footing just in time, scoring 8 of the final 10 points to pull out an 18-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory.
Like Wheaton North (0-1), St. Charles East (1-0) has numerous new faces playing together, and Saints coach Jennie Kull said it helped to have all the orange in the stands behind them.
"Wasn't that a great crowd? It was really cool," Kull said. "Our crowd really helped us to get up. They gave us the confidence to keep pushing. I'm really glad they were here to support us."
Wheaton North got off to a great start, leading 10-2 in the opening set. It wasn't until Saints sophomore Klaudia Sowizral's tip kill left the Saints down 10-4 that St. Charles East won a point other than a Wheaton North service error.
The Saints got as close as 18-15 on a cross-court kill from Sowizral. The Falcons surged again behind Grace Tiesman, who had 4 of her team-high 9 kills in the first set.
After the Falcons led throughout the first set, the teams battled through 21 ties and 11 lead changes in the next two back-and-forth sets. Wheaton North led 19-18 in the second set when Saints junior Ilona Willsey rattled off 6 straight points.
She had an ace during the surge, and senior Avery Macklin put away a kill on the way to a 24-19 lead. Sophomore setter Kyra Slavik found Riley Schumacher for the set-sealing kill.
"We were nervous, first-game nerves, but we are a strong team," Willsey said. "We just put it to the grind and we knew we could do it. Something clicked and we were just pounding it down and working well together."
The Saints started fast in the third set and led 10-8 when Schumacher and Ally Watson combined for a block. But the Falcons went on a 13-7 run to get within 4 points of victory at 21-17.
Again St. Charles East had the final push, a rally ignited with Alexis Jett at the service line. Libero Taylor Chiaro's shot from the back row found its way to the floor, and Macklin came up with 2 more big swings including one on match point that deflected off the Falcons to end the match.
"Kyla (Augustine) did an excellent job today, she's coming off an ankle sprain," Kull said. "Ilona served amazing and played defense. Our setters did great. Everybody stepped up."
Abby Tiesman added 6 kills and 2 aces for the Falcons, Allie Maloney 13 digs, Brooke Syswerda 8 assists, Elle Holland 11 assists and 3 aces, and Haley Horner 5 kills.
"Our passing we need to be more consistent," Falcons coach Carole Kristensen said. "We had so many leads and they kind of pecked away at them. Overall as a first match, the crowd was into it, you are going up against Jennie, we just need to make some adjustments. The leadership on the court needs to be established."