Boys volleyball: St. Charles East able to slip by Bartlett

As expected St. Charles East is headed to the boys volleyball regional title game at Streamwood on Wednesday, but Bartlett sure didn't make it easy for the Saints on Tuesday in the semifinals.

After being overmatched in the first set the underdog Hawks took the Saints to the limit in set two. Bartlett served for set point twice, but East was able to prevail for a 25-13, 28-26 win to advance to play Addison Trail Wednesday for the regional title.

Senior Dom Sciortino led the Saints with 11 kills.

"They gave us quite a game in the second one," East coach Kate McCullagh said. "We talked after the first game that a team facing the end of their season is going to come out with a surge and they did. We kind of struggled controlling ball. But thank goodness we were able to keep our heads and take care of business in the end."

Set two featured 11 ties and 7 lead changes. The Hawks were serving with a 26-25 lead and a chance to close it out. However, a missed serve tied it at 26-26. The Saints took a 27-26 lead on an unforced error by the Hawks and then won it on a block kill in the middle by Sciortino.

"That was a great game," Sciortino said. "They are a tough team. When the season is on the line it's always more intense. We were able to bounce back at the end and turn the tide in our favor."

Sciortino dominated in set one with 7 kills and 4 blocks.

"He is a big part of our offense," McCullagh said. "He makes us really strong in the middle. We try to keep him moving around so other teams have a hard time defending him."

Zach Kennedy added 6 kills for the Saints. Chris Foerstel had a team-high 7 digs for East and Lucas Coker had 22 assists.

The Saints lost in 3 games to Addison Trail earlier in the season.

"We played them tough," McCullagh said. "They are really good in the middle, but so are we. So it's going to be a good matchup."

Bartlett finishes the season 11-21.

"We fought to the last whistle and that is all a coach can ask for," Bartlett coach Bob Schwantz said. "We really tightened up the defense and covered a lot more of their hits in the second game. It was just a couple mistakes at the end that hurt us. But we are a very young team with a lot of players coming back so this will be a great learning experience."

Martin Radomski had 6 kills to lead the Hawks. Sodum Desai had 10 digs and Omar Owda had 9 assists.