Benet finds 3 a 'thrill' again

The Benet girls volleyball team has this thing about three-game matches.

It doesn't lose them.

So when Neuqua Valley rallied late to force a deciding game on Saturday night, Benet didn't get rattled. It felt comfortable going to a third game -- and played like it.

The fourth-seeded Redwings ran their record in three-game matches to 7-0 on the year by turning back the fifth-seeded host 25-22, 22-25, 25-17 in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley regional final in Naperville.

"We like the pressure," Benet outside hitter Ariana Mankus said in explaining her team's success in deciding games. "I guess we just like the thrill of winning in three."

"We push real hard at the end and we don't get nervous," Redwings libero Paige Vargas said. "We just love third games, I guess. We like to keep it exciting."

Benet (34-3) looked ready to wrap it up when it pushed to a 21-17 lead in Game 2.

From there all Neuqua Valley (22-10) did was score 8 of the next 9 points, forcing a third game when Rachel Quackenbush drilled a kill down the left side.

But Benet scored the first 3 points of Game 3 en route to building leads of 7-2, 11-4, 16-6 and 19-8.

It wasn't long before Mankus gave the Redwings their first regional championship since 2004 by pounding a kill off a double block for match point.

"We've proven down the stretch that come crunch time we're going to get it done," Benet coach Brad Baker said. "We've done it over and over and over again."

Mankus finished with 10 kills, Natalie Patzin had 9 and Jessica Jendryk added 6 for Benet, which swept No. 13 seed Plainfield Central (24-14) 25-14, 25-18 in the semifinals.

Neuqua Valley advanced with a 25-20, 25-23 semifinal win over 12th-seeded Joliet (18-16).

Wildcats coach Kelly Simon made a couple lineup changes for the regional. Quackenbush was inserted on the outside and she responded with a team-high 10 kills. Paige Stevens landed 8 kills and Nikki Federico fired off 7, but Benet's block proved too formidable in the end.

"It was tough when we were getting blocked a lot," Simon said. "That's very deflating. … They're a great team. I feel like we were prepared as best as we could be. We just got beat tonight."