Girls volleyball: Benet wins battle of unbeatens at St. Charles East
Two undefeated volleyball teams squared off in St. Charles Wednesday night - ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the Daily Herald preseason Top 20 - and No. 1 left quite the impression.
Benet traveled to St. Charles East and jumped on the Saints early. The Redwings scored the first six points, racing to a 10-2 lead on its way to a dominating Game 1 victory. The Saints regrouped in the second game, but this time it was Benet closing strong, using a 7-1 run to end the match with a 25-14, 25-20 victory.
"We knew we had to come out with a bunch of energy and intensity if we wanted to beat them in their home gym," Benet setter Ally Van Eekeren said. "That really got us pumped up. We played really well tonight. Serve-receive was really good. We had lot of great swings, great blocks. We played as a cohesive team."
The Saints (9-1) entered the game on the heels of beating St. Francis to win Saturday's Conant Invitational.
They didn't look like the same team early. Benet (8-0) took St. Charles East out of system time and again with aggressive serving; Claire Byrne was at the line for 5 straight points for a 6-0 lead as Saints coach Jennie Kull called timeout.
"We were completely nervous in the first game," Kull said. "That is the first match we've seen multiple hitters, we've seen aggressive serving. And they froze."
Not until McKenna Slavik (6 assists, 7 kills) lofted a back set that her sister Kyra Slavik (4 kills) put away, bringing the Saints within 12-5, did St. Charles East score a point that wasn't on a Benet error. Of the Saints' 14 points in Game 1, six came on missed Redwing serves.
That was about the only thing Benet did wrong as Byrne (10 kills) and Lilly Johnson (11 kills) led the offensive attack, with Hattie Monson making several diving saves to keep balls alive in the back row.
"That's all we work on and it's finally showing," Johnson said of Benet's serve-receive.
Van Eekeren closed the first game with a quick hit that caught the Saints off-guard.
"The whole point is to keep the middle on guard," Van Eekeren said. "They have to watch me as well as the hitters. They have to watch two things instead of one so it's a little trickier to read.
"There were a lot of quick points tonight. Both setters on both sides were doing that. It's a really effective way to get that quick point."
With 10 ties and 4 lead changes, the second game featured the competitiveness the first lacked. St. Charles East built its biggest lead at 13-8; Benet rallied to tie the game at 13, 16, 17, 18 and 19.
Rachel Muisenga served an ace during a 5-point run that took the Redwings to match point. Van Eekeren set outside to Johnson who tooled off the Saints' block to end the match.
The Redwings didn't mind the missed serves as much because their aggressiveness set the tone early and helped seal it late.
"Early in the season it's OK," Benet coach Brad Baker said. "We want kids to find that medium. We talk about serving aggressive but not reckless. How fast can you go and still be at 90 percent? Right now it's still sort of a learning curve. It's a fine line."
Anna Skryd added 7 digs for the Saints.