Girls volleyball: Minooka downs Benet for tourney title
Minooka's girls volleyball team wasn't about to let a golden opportunity slip away Saturday afternoon.
Despite dropping the opening set 25-21, the Indians (26-1) came back to defeat Benet Academy (26-3) by scores of 25-19 and 25-22 while capturing the Gold Division title in the annual St. Charles East Scholastic Cup Tournament held at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora.
"In the first set, we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win," said Minooka 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Alli Papesh, who recorded a match-high 18 kills - including her team's last 5 in the decisive third set.
"After the first set, that really hit us. We came out that second set and played to win."
Papesh received plenty of help from her teammates, particularly 6-foot senior outside hitter Rocky Perinar (16 kills, 2 aces) and 6-2 senior right side Holly Bonde, who had all 3 of her kills and a pair of aces in the third set.
"This is one of the toughest games we've played all season," said Papesh. "We dropped a match in the beginning of the season to Marist (in 3 sets) and it didn't sit well with us. We wanted to prove we are as good as we think we are.
"Last year, we took third (in the tournament) and again that didn't sit well with us. We really wanted to come out and prove ourselves and we did that."
Benet led the second set 14-13 before Minooka took control with a 10-2 run that included a pair of kills and ace from Perinar and a few hitting and passing errors by the Redwings.
Minooka carried that momentum into the third set, jumping out to leads of 9-4, 12-7 and 14-9 before Benet staged a comeback.
"We took a timeout and talked about it," said Benet coach Brad Baker. "We came back swinging and we got back into it but we have to have that mentality for an hour and a half. It can't go on and off for 15- and 30-minute stretches."
Fueled by senior outside hitter Lilly Johnson (10 kills), junior setter Ally Van Eekeren (5 kills, 3 blocks, 32 assists), sophomore outside hitter Sophie Gregus (5 kills, 3 blocks) and freshman Rachel Muisenga (6 kills, 4 blocks), the Redwings tied it on 4 different occasions - the last at 22-22 following Muisenga's block.
However, the Indians scored the final 3 points - 2 coming on kills from Papesh - to seal the decision.
"It's hard to simulate that in practice," Baker said of Minooka's height. "Those kids hit angles that we don't. We can hit them if we're standing on a box. That's about the only time we hit those angles so it's tough."
St. Charles East (22-5), which lost a 25-21, 25-19 semifinal decision to Benet, pocketed a third-place finish with its 25-15, 25-19 victory over Naperville Central (16-11) behind all-tournament selection Kyra Slavik.
"Overall, the girls played really well this weekend," said Saints coach Jennie Kull. "Benet obviously is a very good team but we just need to learn to execute our game plan and stick with it.
"I was very happy with the way we came back against Naperville Central. We beat our seed (6th)."
Other local finishers included Naperville North, second in the Silver division; Wheaton North, third in the Silver; Neuqua Valley, fourth in the Silver; and Bronze champion Prairie Ridge.
Geneva defeated Rosary 25-18, 25-16 for third in the Bronze.