St. Charles North's power too much for South Elgin
The sole lead of the night for South Elgin vanished in a hurry.
The Storm was opening its Upstate Eight Conference boys volleyball campaign at St. Charles North, and the squad had few answers for the North Stars Wednesday evening.
St. Charles North opened a huge first-game lead, and the North Stars' Grant Livingston served 7 consecutive points to negate their lone deficit -- 1-0 in the second game.
Rusty Lavaja had a match-high 7 kills, and the powerful outside hitter had able company in the North Stars' convincing 25-15, 25-8 victory in St. Charles.
"A little shaky still," Lavaja said of the overall team effort. "(But) we've got a lot of guys contributing in a number of different ways. (I) missed some serves."
There was little else Lavaja did wrong.
Lavaja had a first-game kill that culminated a North Stars 18-6 run to begin the night.
South Elgin (0-2, 0-1 in the Upstate Eight) was its own worst enemy with several service errors in both games, and St. Charles North (2-0, 1-0) was hardly a unit in need of charity.
South Elgin senior Kevin Mui had a pair of opening-game kills, and the Storm did reduce the North Stars' lead to 8 points twice in the first game.
St. Charles North captain Austin Collingborne closed out the first game with a block for a kill, and the North Stars were never threatened in the second game.
"We came out a lot more focused (in the second game)," St. Charles North coach Brad Mitchell said. "We just had to stay with it and not make stupid mistakes. We still missed a few serves."
Lavaja, Tyler Hoerner and Brad Pevonka had kills during the Livingston second-game service run that gave St. Charles North an 8-1 lead.
The North Stars would ultimately register 11 more kills over the course of their following 17 points, and Kegan Haeseli added an ace for good measure.
Lavaja and Haeseli had successive kills to bring match point, which was realized on a Storm hitting error.
"We hit a lot of balls completely out of bounds," South Elgin coach Joni Melahn said. "We're still trying to get it together. We're still a new school; this is only our second year of varsity. (The North Stars) have a lot of heavy hitters."
Akash Patel had the lone South Elgin kill in the second game.
Softball
Aurora Central 1, Hampshire 0: In new ACC coach Claude Ainsworth's debut, the Chargers topped the Whip-Purs, thanks to Casey Regnier's all-around performance.
Regnier not only allowed Hampshire 1 hit and struck out 9, but the junior posted ACC's only two hits and scored the lone run of the game. She scored in the fourth inning on a passed ball.