Girls volleyball: Motivated Wheaton North turns tables on Benet

For some programs taking a set from the mighty Benet girls volleyball program is reason to celebrate. But that is not the case for Wheaton North this season.

The Falcons dropped a three-setter to the Redwings in the quarterfinals of the Wheaton Classic on Saturday and used that tough setback as motivation to do even better in Thursday's nonconference rematch at Wheaton North. With a balanced attack, a strong defense and a big block, the hosts pulled off the historic 25-18, 20-25, 25-16 win over Benet (14-2).

"It was really good after beating them today. Saturday we had a really tough time pulling it together, but tonight we all did our job," said Wheaton North senior outside hitter Kailyn Williams, who paced her team with 9 kills. "We were really determined to come out and go for it after that loss. We took three days in practice to really focus and focus on the rotations."

The work paid off as Wheaton North (17-4) survived a big charge from Benet, which rode Veronica Snelling's big swings to draw even after the second set.

A Williams kill knotted the decisive third set at 9-9 and then the Falcons outscored an unusually sloppy Redwings squad 16-7 down the stretch to beat Benet for the first team in a long time, if not the first time ever.

"I don't think we ever have beaten them," said Falcons coach Carole Kristensen. "That is a very nice team over there. We have just scouted them well, and in the third set we shut down some points. Against the big teams, the elite teams, we're going to have to do that (block), and they did."

Six-foot-2 middle Emmy Barnhorst had 6 blocks and 8 kills, while three other Falcons each had 3 blocks, including 6-5 Haley Horner, who also had 7 kills.

"Their size gave us problems tonight," said Benet coach Brad Baker, whose team suffered its first loss this season in the championship of the Wheaton Classic. "They're a very good team, but we can't make double-digit errors in a set and expect to beat anybody."

Snelling recorded a match-high 15 kills and was dominate in the second set as setter Sara Nielsen kept finding her in good positions to put the ball away. But Baker noted that his team was hurt by 10 errors in the first set and 11 more in the third.

"It was a good match," said Nielsen, the veteran setter who has experienced winning a whole lot more than losing since she arrived at the Lisle school. "They played really well and I don't want to take anything away from them, but I think this game gave us a lot of things to work on. We play St. Charles North tomorrow and we want to use this to come out and play a better game."

Nielsen said Saturday's setback may have fueled the Falcons' fire a little.

"Anytime someone loses to someone else they're going to come back really hard," the senior said. "We beat them the first time and tonight in their home gym they played really well. They didn't want to lose tonight and we needed to pick it up to match their intensity."

Williams hopes the big win propels the team on to bigger and better things this season. "This gives us a big boost," she said. "We're like the just the second team to beat Benet besides Geneva. It's awesome."